i: youngblood
by ValerieInWonderland
Summary: Bella Swan moves to Forks to live with her father and in her first day at school she finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, drop-dead gorgeous girl, Rosalie Hale. or Basically the original plot ( new plots) of Twilight but 104% sapphic and modern with Rosalie/Bella pairing just because I want (and can).
1. chapter i

**A/N:** I wrote this for myself and I wasn't planning on posting, but I thought what the hell, right?

This is literally nothing more than a re-reading of Twilight with minors changes to fit my version. Also this is set in our present time (too many pop references), more believable drama and much much more angst and slow burn because I like being extra™

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It was a Sunday when Isabella Swan arrived in Forks to live with her father until the end of her high school years. Forks, a small town that exists under a near-constant cover of clouds in the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America, completely different from the hot and dry weather of Phoenix, Arizona, where Bella lived with her mother since she was 6.

But Bella was born in Forks and was in this gloomy, omnipresent shade that her mother escaped with her when she was only a few months old. It was in this town that she'd been compelled to spend a month every summer until she was fourteen. That was the year she finally couldn't have it anymore and for the past three summers she vacationed with her father, Charlie in California for two weeks instead.

It was Forks now where she exiled herself, an action that she took with great horror. She could barely stand Forks. Bella loved Phoenix instead, she loved the sun and the blistering heat, she loved the vigorous, sprawling city, a place where you actually had something to do, a place where interesting things happened.

Renée, Bella's mom, pleaded for her not to move away, but Bella felt it was the right thing to do. She wanted to travel with her new husband, Phil, and a teenager daughter tagging along wasn't exactly the best of scenarios. And Bella also had school to finish.

So she insisted that she wanted to move, to create some memories with her father, learn new things and breath a different air, but of course it was all a big fat lie. She'd always been a bad liar, but she'd been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now. Even to herself.

She exchanged goodbyes with her mother and Phil before being engulfed in a tight hug from her mother for at least 2 minutes and then it was time to hop on a plane, and just like that she was gone.

It was a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying didn't really bother Bella, especially because she got to spend most of the time editing her pictures on her computer. Now the hour in the car with Charlie, though, that she was a little worried about.

Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that Bella was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd already gotten her registered for high school and was going to help her get a car.

But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of them was what anyone would call verbose, and she didn't know what there was to say regardless. She knew he was more than a little confused by her decision since she always made clear her distaste for Forks.

When she landed in Port Angeles, it was raining, something that didn't surprise her one bit. She didn't see it as an omen, just unavoidable. She'd already said her goodbyes to the sun.

Charlie was waiting for her with the cruiser. That she was expecting, too. Charlie was known as Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. He gave her an awkward, one-armed hug when she stumbled her way off the plane.

"It's good to see you, Bells," he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied his daughter "You haven't changed much. How's Renée?"

"Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." She wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face.

Bella had only a few bags. Most of her Arizona clothes were too permeable for Washington. Renée had pooled their resources to supplement Bella's winter wardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.

"Your hair's longer." he commented once they were already in the car.

Bella's hands went automatically to her hair as if to see if everything was alright before she answered, "I cut it since last time I saw you."

He nodded in agreement but didn't offer any words and they remained in silence until the ride over his house. _Their house_ , Bella corrected herself. As the cruiser drove through, she took in the logging town. Wood adorned all the buildings, a little too much for her personal taste.

The cruiser pulled up to the old two-story house that Bella knew too well. Charlie still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with Renée in the early days of their marriage. The house wasn't stylish, the only new thing was a flat screen tv, but Bella thought it felt comfortable; lived-in.

It took only one trip to get all of Bella's stuff upstairs. She got the west bedroom that faced out over the front yard. The room was familiar; it had belonged to her since she was born. The wooden floor, the light green walls, the peaked ceiling, the white lace curtains around the window, all part of Bella's childhood. The only changes Charlie had ever made were switching the crib for a bed and adding a desk as she grew. The desk was empty, ready to be filled with Bella's photography gear. She also noticed that the rocking chair from her baby days was still in the corner.

There was only one small bathroom at the top of the stairs, which she would have to share with Charlie. She was trying not to dwell too much on that fact.

"Once you get settled, come downstairs, will ya?" Charlie said and headed back, leaving Bella alone to unpack her belongings.

One of the best things about Charlie is that he didn't hover and Bella was very grateful for it, knowing that she'd have enough of that the next day.

She finished settling her things the way she wanted in her bedroom, grabbed her phone and camera before doing as Charlie said and heading downstairs.

She found the front door open and voices coming from the outside. She followed it until she saw her father standing next to three people. An older guy, that she recognized as Harry Clearwater, her father's friend that dated since before she was even born, and his two children, Leah and Seth.

Bella remembered that Leah was at least a year older than she was and Seth a good 4 or 5 years younger than them, but you could easily say that they were twins.

Leah was tall and skinny, just as much as Bella. Her skin was a perfect copper tone, brown eyes slightly pulled aside, giving over her Native American heritage. Her hair was long, going to the middle of her back and just as brown as her eyes. Her outfit was a tomboy-ish edgy style, all in black, with a leather jacket thrown over just for effect. She was strikingly beautiful, and Bella needed to remember herself that she was shamelessly staring before moving to examine the boy standing next to her.

He was just as beautiful. His skin was also copper, and just like his sister, his eyes gave away his true heritage. He was tall, but not as tall as Leah, more like Bella's height. His hair was long, perhaps even longer than his sister. His style remembered Bella of modern hipster lumberjacks, with a red flannel shirt and an old ripped jeans. His eyes were kind and a huge, happy grin adorned his features, making him surprisingly charming.

"Bella, you remember Harry Clearwater." Charlie said once he saw Bella leaning in the door frame, staring at them.

"Glad you're finally here. Charlie hasn't shut up about it since you told him you were coming." Harry admitted and Bella was touched by the fact that her arrival was something that Charlie seemed excited about.

"Alright, alright. Keep spreading lies and I'll have you arrested." Charlie joked and Harry punched him in the arm, laughing.

Leah shook her head at them and took the opportunity to approach Bella, who was also watching the two full grown men pushing each other in the middle of the road.

"I'm Leah. We used to make mud pies together when we were little." Leah introduced herself, crooking a side smile making Bella swoon just a little at the sight.

"Yeah, I think I remember." Bella said after trying conjure the memories of her childhood in Forks. There were so many.

Bella turned to look over her father, that was still pushing the older Quileute down the street as if they were small children.

"Are they always like this?" she asked, unimpressed.

"It's getting worse with the age." Seth jeered, coming to stand next to Leah. He extended a hand to Bella. "I'm Seth, by the way."

"Yeah, I remember you, too." She smiled at him while shaking his hand. "But you were much younger back then."

The boy shrugged but kept his grin on.

Charlie came back and patted the hood of the car parked in front of their house.

"So, what do you think of your homecoming gift?" Charlie said expectantly to Bella.

It was a golden old car, shining like it was brand new. To Bella's intense surprise, she loved it. It had the old vintage aesthetic she was into nowadays. And at least it wasn't a rusty old truck.

"No way, is it for me?"

It was a rhetorical question and even if Charlie said it wasn't, Bella was already planning on stealing it for at least a drive around town.

"Bought it off from ol' Harry, here," he said patting his friend's back. "It's a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle."

"I rebuilt the engine, it works perfectly." Leah commented with a proud smile.

Bella opened the door and took a glance at the interior, noticing the brand new black leather seats, the modern dashboard and most importantly the modern music system. Surely Charlie had spent a small fortune on it. It was much more than Bella could've hoped for.

She turned to hug her father, taking him by surprise "Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!"

"I'm glad you like it, kiddo" Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again, not quite returning the embrace.

She entered the car and placed her hands on the steering wheel, seeing how it felt underneath her grip. _Just like it was made for her._

"Thank you dad, this is truly perfect." she said without taking her eyes from zooming over the features of her new car. "It's okay if I take it for a ride? Just so I know how it feels."

"Sure, go for it."

Bella closed the door and gestured for Leah and Seth to enter the car "It's okay if they come too? So I don't get lost." she asked Harry.

"If they want. I was hoping to see your father's new flat screen anyway."

"Then that's it. Leave the kids to help Bella around and we can see if the game's still on." Charlie said before going inside the house, Harry following him, not even paying attention to his kids hopping inside Bella's car.

Leah entered the passenger seat and Seth was left to stay in the backseat. Bella grabbed the aux cord already plugged into the music system and connected it with her phone. She scrolled through her Spotify profile before deciding on a Lo-Fi playlist, her newest obsession. A second later the calm, melancholic sound of Knox Fortune started to fill the car. _It's a good music system_.

She turned to face Leah, who was checking her appearance in the mirror "So, where can we go?"

"We can go to La Push and grab Jacob - I'm sure you remember him - then I don't know," Leah tilted her head, thinking about what they could do. "I'd say that we could go to Port Angeles, much more options, but it's around an hour drive just to get there, so I don't think it's something you wanna do in your first day here. Especially if you just came from there."

"Yeah, the whole trip from Phoenix to here was exhausting, to say the least, so I think we can save Port Angeles for another opportunity." Leah glanced at her with raised eyebrows, surprised with the assumption "What? You guys are my only friends here and I don't think I'm gonna meet many interesting people in school tomorrow, so..." she trailed off.

"Well, I'm flattered, but I'd hardly call us friends yet, Bells." Leah smirked.

"You're calling me Bells, and the only person that calls me that is Charlie, so I think we're at least more than acquaintances."

"Touché."

"So La Push first, and then I think we can figure it out on the way." Bella said as she started the engine.

"Sounds good," Leah agreed before starting to give directions to Bella and in less than 15 minutes they arrived at the Blacks house. "Stay here, I'll go get him," she told them before leaving the car to knock on the door.

In less than a minute a tall guy appeared to see who was knocking on his door. Bella remembered him, his father was also friends with Charlie. He used to play with Bella and the Clearwaters when they were younger, and Jacob himself was around 3 years younger than her. He was extremely handsome, competing with Leah for the post of the 'most beautiful Quileute'. His long raven-black hair was in a ponytail, his body a lanky build with a russet skin that Bella was secretly envying. His outfit of choice was a plain black shirt with khaki pants, nothing out of the ordinary. The same boy she knew a long time ago.

Bella watched as Leah said something to him and gestured to the car before he went back inside his house to grab something and close the door. He jogged his way to the car, Leah following suit. Jacob entered the backseat with Seth and greeted him before acknowledging Bella.

"Hi, Bella. I'm Jacob." he said with a bright smile, showing all his perfects white teeth.

"I remember you. You used to pick on me when we were kids."

Jacob winced "Sorry 'bout that. I don't really remember doing that."

"So, kids, where are we heading to?" Bella asked once she initiated the engine once again.

"First of all, I'm older than you, so 'kids' doesn't apply to me." Leah annoyingly pointed out and Bella rolled her eyes at the girl's antics.

"Are you always such an ass?" she couldn't help but say, the insult slipping out of her mouth before she could hold it back. To Bella's surprise, Leah laughed while both Jacob and Seth said " _Yes!_ " in unison.

"That's settled then." Bella said smiling at the girl "Now, where to, _old_ lady?"

"There's this thing at Sam's tonight. We can go there if you are in the mood for a party full of testosterone." Leah suggested, her eyes glued to her phone.

"Isn't Sam the guy that's been giving you a hard time? Like harassing you and shit?" Seth asked, sounding confused.

"Yeah, but he's not that bad, at least not Paul's level of bad, so it's bearable, at least if the goal of being in his presence is to get trashed."

"So you guys like to party hard, huh?" Bella was surprised.

"Once in a while. Problem?" Leah asked, side glancing at the girl next to her.

"Me? No, I was actually wondering what people at my age did in such a small town. I thought it was something like spending all the time on a parking lot or diner, definitely not house parties." Bella admitted.

"This isn't Forks, Bella, so I can't say exactly what people from Forks do in their free time, but if you're ever in the need of partying, there's always something going on here, like every other weekend. So just hit me up whenever you want and I'll give you all the details." Leah said, taking Bella's phone from the dashboard and adding her number to her phonebook.

"Aw, and you said we weren't friends, Leah. Why are you trying to deny the chemistry between us?" Bella joked with an annoyingly sweet voice.

"Oh, shut up."

"Anyway, I don't think we have the time for a party, unfortunately. I have class tomorrow." she exhaled, feeling tired just thinking how shittie tomorrow was going to be. Bella definitely wasn't the type to feel excited about the first day in a new school. "By the way, any of you go to school in Forks or all of ya stay in La Push?"

Three distinct voices said " _La Push_ " at the same time, answering Bella's question.

"Well, that's just great. Now I officially have to be the 'fresh blood' without even knowing someone, just great."

"If you want to take the pressure off I can hook you up with some ganja." Jacob offered shaking a plastic transparent bag in his hand full of joints ready to be burned.

"Holy crow, you're a dealer?" Bella turned her head too fast, startling Seth that was playing a game on his phone.

"What? No, we grow it for ourselves, we never sell it." Jacob said defensively "It's something very common here in La Push, Bella."

"You have a problem with it? You never got stoned before?" Leah said accusingly, eyeing Bella as if she had grown a second head.

"No, no, I have. I used to smoke from time to time back in Phoenix in some parties, but never bought it for myself." she admitted and took the stash from Jacob, opening it and smelling inside the bag, her eyes closing slightly. _This is smells delicious._ "Oh, this is the devil tempting me."

"You should do it." Leah said encouragingly "We all should."

"Yeah, we should totally smoke one. Your playlist is setting the mood just right, Bella." Jacob agreed, his head and shoulders moving along with the song's rhythm. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Bella considered her options and the only thing stopping her from diving right in was her father, a cop.

"Screw it, let's do it." she said after some debate, coming to the conclusion she could use the 'tired' card once she got home and Charlie would never know what they did.

"Great. I know just the place we can go, we can park your car there and leave the doors open so we can continue to listen to your trippy playlist." Jacob said enthusiastically.

Leah grabbed the stash from Bella's hand and Jacob gave her directions to the place and in less than 5 minutes they arrived at an empty area near the edge of the forest, no one around to interrupt them.

After parking the car, Bella stayed behind to switch to a trippier playlist, one with vaporwave mixed in among the lo-fi. Then, that settled, she left the phone plugged into the car and got out to join her friends.

Jacob was already lighting one joint and smoking with gusto before passing it to Leah. Bella was struck momentarily by how beautiful Leah looked while she smoked. Watching people smoke had always appealed to Bella, especially when those people were pretty girls. She was brought from her once again shamelessly stare with Leah holding the joint for her, a smirk in her face for catching Bella checking her out.

The first hit sent Bella into a severe coughing fit and everyone laughed at it - Seth even went to pat her back to see if it helped. She dismissed the boy before hitting again and handing it off to him, but he just shook his head, declining the offer.

"Don't want it?" Bella asked surprised.

"I don't smoke." Seth admitted sheepishly.

"Good for you, Seth." Bella said, a proud hint in her voice. It was good to see that not everyone was inclined to this kind of behavior, even if it happened constantly around them.

"So, Bella, enjoying Washington in this few hours you've been here?" Jacob asked, making small chat after Bella offered him the joint, already taking a deep hit waiting for her answer.

"Not a bit. I hate this place, I hate the weather, I hate the fact that I don't have more than probably three options to do something, that I'll have to cook everyday for the rest of my stay, that this place looks like a ghost town. I hate everything about Forks." Bella rumbled, already feeling the effects of the drug hitting her. She wasn't always this open and honest about her thoughts, but the weed and the fact that she somewhat felt safe around them made her want to be honest. "But at least Charlie's trying, I have all that I need here, thank god for technology, my now new car and I have you guys, so at least it's more than I've expected, really."

Everyone smiled at her and Bella smiled back, glad that she found people to hang when she wanted. She close her eyes to feel the breeze and started to sway when Teen Pregnancy by Blank Banshee came through her car speakers. She was in such a good state of mind that she started to dance, which in Bella's record consisted in swaying around and moving her hands to the rhythm, something she also never did in public. But now she couldn't care less, and as they saw her dancing, Jacob and Leah followed her, enjoying the song.

"Bella, your playlist is really good, you need to share it with us later." Jacob said, his eyes closed, lost in his own world.

"Of course I will. How come you guys never heard Vaporwave?" she said but didn't receive any answers back, everyone too busy entranced with the song to say anything and Bella didn't mind being ignored.

"The trees are beautiful." she mumbled as she took her surrounding as if she was seeing it all with new eyes, having hit the blunt two more times "All this green, is so much different from the desert that is Arizona." Bella continued after some time, On the Level by Mac Demarco playing, one of her favorite songs.

"I like the green, too." Leah agreed, she was leaned against Bella's car, next to the owner.

"I like the green just alright." Jacob said, his eyes barely open and anyone who saw it would see how high he was. He handed the roach to Bella, but she declined it with a simple " _I'm cool_ ", so he passed it to Leah that took the last hit before licking the tip of her finger and placing it on the top of the joint, putting out the fire.

"Didn't it burn you?" Bella asked impressed once she saw the girl doing it without flinching even once.

"Nah, I'm used." Leah said dismissing the girl's worries.

"Oh, I have the munchies." Jacob announced after a few minutes.

"Me too." Bella said with a dramatic exaggeration. "There's somewhere in Forks where we can eat? Like a fast-food or something?"

"There's Sully's.' Seth offered.

"Let's go, then Jacob can come back with you guys?"

"Sure. Let's go!" Leah shouted and they all hoped inside the car.

They were all inside the car for a few minutes, just waiting for Bella to drive them, but she couldn't even start the engine, and after a few more failed tries she started to laugh hard at her stupidity, being to high to do anything but laugh.

"Are you sure you can drive? I can do it if you want, I'm used to." Leah offered and Bella nodded still laughing. She barely managed to open her door and changed places with the Quileute girl.

Leah then started to drive them away from La Push and back to Forks, all the while alert to the rode ahead, so sober that no one would've ever guessed she just smoke a tone shit of weed. 35 minutes after, a little longer than Bella did to get to La Push, they arrived at Forks and at Sully's. They each placed their order and Bella insisted in paying for it, joking that she was trying to buy their friendship, and after some reluctance from Leah's part, Bella paid for their food and they all went to eat in the parking lot. Bella's playlist still on, having a 6-hour length.

While they ate they talked about everything and nothing at the same time. Bella told them about the parties she used to frequent in Phoenix, and Leah told her about the parties that went down on La Push. Seth started a conversation about the types of tv shows they liked and Bella happily found out that Jacob and Seth were both huge fans of Game of Thrones, just like she was, but was disappointed once they declared their love for the Stark house, herself being a huge fan of the Targaryens.

Leah in the other hand didn't spend her time watching television, but she liked cinema. She discussed the Academy Award nominees of the year with Bella, both coming to the conclusion that it was indeed a great year to the film industry, proclaiming their love for the Florida Project and while talking about the amazing photography of Blade Runner, 2046 that Bella remembered her camera, forgotten in the backseat, none of the guys appearing to notice all the while they were there.

"Guys, guys," she called their attention "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Of course you can, I'm photogenic," Jacob said with such a conviction that made Bella wonder if he was a Leo.

They exited the car and Bella placed them together in front of her Chevelle, they all hugging each other, Seth still with a burger in his hands, a huge grin in his face. They all smiled and Bella took her time taking several pictures of them in her film camera, eager to develop it so she could see the results. Once she was done, she went back to sit in the car, but Leah's hands were in her arms, making her stay in place.

"What about you? Aren't you going to join us in the picture?" she asked and Bella had a hard time debating if she should give into it and just take the damn photo.

The thing was, Bella loved photography, she loved to take pictures of beautiful things, of memories she knew she'd cherish for life, but she liked to be in the opposite side of her camera lens. She liked to be the master of it, controlling the exposures, the settings accordingly to the photo, but she wasn't particularly fond of being in the receiving end of an photography. She didn't think of herself as good enough for that sort of privilege; not beautiful enough to be in it.

But right in that moment, with those people, maybe she could make an exception. Make some new memories, new kinds of memories, one's where she could be in it too. And it was with this line of thought that Bella placed the camera in the hood of her car, positioning it right and calling her friends to join her in the picture. She settled the timer for 10 seconds and they all squeezed themselves together to the photo, Bella standing in the middle between Jacob and Leah, Seth right next to his sister. When the camera flash lightened two times straight announcing that the picture was just about to be taken, Bella smiled, an honest smile for once. The thought of maybe Forks not being such a bad decision taking over her.

"So, you're into photography?" Leah casually asked once they were back in the car and Bella back in the driver's seat clamming that she was good to drive them back to her house after eating, the food sobering her up just enough to drive.

"Yeah. It's kinda my thing." Bella admitted, the car still parked at the parking lot, herself finishing to eat her french-fries while the others finished their food "I took interest once I went to a gallery in Phoenix, so I took a summer job one year and saved enough to buy this film camera," she said gesturing to the camera still in her hand. It was a black Olympus OM-1, a good manual film camera for beginners, but Bella was already a little more advanced than that.

"Film? What, are you too cool for digital photography?" Jacob joked from the backseat, sipping from his strawberry milkshake.

"No, I'm into it, too. It's just much more expensive a good digital camera, so I thought about starting with a film camera where I can learn all the things about manual photography before spending all my saving in a digital one." Bella explained and she saw Jacob nodding his head in the rear view mirror "So, what is your thing?" she asked to Leah.

"Hooking up with random girls." Seth answered laughing before his sister could answer herself and Leah turned around to punch her brother in the arm, scolding him.

Bella arched her eyebrows, surprised and curious at the same time. Leah indeed looked like the womanizer type.

"Ignore him." Leah told her, ending the topic before answering Bella's original question "I'm into mechanics, actually. I like fixing cars, bikes and whatever."

"Oh, yeah. You mentioned that you worked in this car's engine. Good work." Bella said genuinely and Leah smiled, the compliment going straight for her ego "So, how about you, Jake? Besides being a pot-head, of course."

"Of course," Jacob agreed chuckling "Is it going to sound weird if I say that my hobby is to cook?"

"Not at all, by all means, come by my house everyday to cook for me." Bella half-joked, wishing Jacob would indeed come by her house to cook for her and Charlie. Just thinking about all the things she'd have to do for herself now tired her.

"I may take the invite." Jacob joked back.

"Please do!" Bella said dramatically "What about you, Seth?"

"I like reading, writing sometimes." Seth shrugged, not giving too much valor to what he was saying. "I'm not good, though."

"Oh, shut up, Seth. You're great! You should see his poems, they are beautiful." Leah said proudly of her baby brother and Seth smiled sheepishly at the compliment.

"Oh, a sweet beautiful guy that doesn't do drugs and writes poems? I may or may not be falling for you right now, young Seth." Bella joked and started to laugh once she saw Seth puzzled face in the rear mirror "I'm just kidding, Seth. You're too young for me. But anyone would be lucky to be with you."

"Thanks, Bella." Seth thanked with a small smile. Bella was mesmerized with how much that boy smiled, never once letting it drop from his face.

Bella's phone rang once and she went to retrieve it to see a message from Charlie asking if everything was alright and if she lost herself because she was taking too long. Bella took that as her cue to drive them back to her house, Leah not even needing to give her anymore directions, Bella founding her away through Forks small streets quickly.

"Want some more for tomorrow? So you can take the pressure off the first day." Jacob said once they were approaching the house, the plastic bag appearing again in his hand.

"Nah, I'm good. I think I should be sober for my first day, so people won't notice that I'm even weirder than I appear." Bella said without even sparing a minute to think about it "There's Charlie, too. I don't think he'd be happy to know his daughter is a stoner."

"I'd hardly call you a stoner, Bells." Leah said with her disinterested voice "There's a long way to go before you can alto claim yourself a stoner."

Bella rolled her eyes at what the girl was saying. She was beautiful, somewhat nice but also somewhat a complete asshole.

"Okay, but if you ever need it, it's just a call away." Jacob continued, hiding the little recipient back in his pocket.

Bella parked outside her house, the day already setting, just a few minutes away from going completely dark. Charlie opened the door once he heard the car pulling over, Harry not long behind.

"Thanks guys." Bella said after hugging each one of them, once again glad with the thought that she had people to rely on if she ever needed.

Not long after, Harry excused himself and said his goodbyes to the Swans before hoping inside his own car and driving his children and Jacob back to La Push. Inside the house Charlie asked if Bella had a good time, she answered him that she did, and that was all Charlie wanted to hear before going back to the living room and Bella shouting a '"good-night" before heading upstairs to her bedroom.

She finished putting her clothes in the old pine dresser and took her bag of bathroom necessities and went to the communal bathroom to clean herself up after the day she had. She looked at her face in the mirror as she brushed through her tangled, damp hair. Maybe it was the light, but she already looked sallower; unhealthy. Her skin could be pretty, it was very clear, almost translucent-looking, but it all depended on color. It was pretty in the sun, but there was no color or sun in Forks.

When Bella was in bed she started to think about the fact that she didn't relate well to people of her age. Maybe the truth was that she didn't relate well to people, period. Even her mother, whom she was closer to than anyone else on the planet, was never in harmony with her, never on exactly the same page. Sometimes Bella wondered if what she was seeing through her eyes the same things the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in her brain after all the weed.

But thanks to the sacred pot, Bella was able to sleep not long after her internal monologue. The tiresome of her day helping it.

* * *

The next day the thick fog was all Bella could see out of her window in the morning, and suddenly she could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on her. You could never see the sky in Forks, it was like a cage.

Breakfast with Charlie was a quiet event. He wished Bella good luck at school. She thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted - good luck tended to avoid Bella. Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his true wife and family. Bella didn't blame him, for years that police station was probably all he knew and lived.

After he left, Bella sat at the old square oak table in one of the three unmatching chairs and examined his small kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright wood cabinets, and white linoleum floor. Nothing was changed. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a wedding picture of Charlie and Renée in Las Vegas, then one of the three of them in the hospital after Bella was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of Bella's school pictures up to last year's. Those were embarrassing to look at and Bella would have to see what she could do to get Charlie to put them somewhere else, at least while she was living there.

Bella didn't want to be too early to school, but she couldn't stay in the house anymore. She donned her over-sized military jacket and headed out into the rain.

It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak Bella through immediately. She reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The sloshing of her new waterproof boots was unnerving. She missed the normal crunch of gravel as she walked. She couldn't pause and admire her Chevelle again as she wanted since she was in a hurry to get out of the misty wet that swirled around her head and clung to her hair.

It was nice and dry inside her car and she promptly turned on the heat. She plugged her phone on the aux cable and soon Another Sky by Scenic started to play. A happy tune to start the day, the nerves of anxiety starting to show. _Maybe I should've accepted the ganja after all_ , Bella thought.

Finding the school wasn't difficult, though Bella'd never been there before. The school was, like most other things, just off the highway. It was not obvious that it was a school; only the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School, made Bella stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs she couldn't see its size at first. _Where was the feel of the institution?_ She wondered already nostalgically. _Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?_

Forks High School had a frightening total of only three hundred and fifty-seven, now fifty-eight students; there were more than seven hundred people in Bella's junior class alone back in Phoenix. All of the kids in Forks had grown up together, probably even their grandparents had been toddlers together. Bella would be the new girl from the big city, a curiosity, a freak.

Bella parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading FRONT OFFICE. No one else was parked there, so Bella was sure it was off limits, but she decided to get directions inside instead of circling around in the rain like an idiot. She stepped unwillingly out of the Chevelle and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than Bella'd hoped. The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses.

The red-haired woman looked up "Can I help you?"

"I'm Isabella Swan," Bella informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. _Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last._

"Of course," she said. She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones she was looking for. "I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school." She brought several sheets to the counter to show Bella.

She went through the classes for Bella, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave her a slip to have each teacher sign, which she was to bring back at the end of the day. She smiled at Bella and hoped, like Charlie, that she'd like it here in Forks. Bella smiled back as convincingly as she could.

When Bella went back out to her car, other students were starting to arrive. She drove around the school, following the line of traffic.

She looked at the map in the car, trying to memorize it now, hopefully she wouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in front of her nose all day. She stuffed everything in her bag, unplugged her phone out of the aux cord and plugged her earphone, not wanting to stop listening to her music, one of the only things that relaxed her. She slung the strap over her shoulder, and sucked in a huge breath. _I can do this_ , she lied to herself feebly. _No one is going to bite me_. She finally exhaled and stepped out of the Chevelle.

Bella kept her face down as she walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. Once she got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. She felt her breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as she approached the door. She tried holding her breath as she followed two unisex raincoats through the door.

The classroom was small. The people in front of Bella stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. She copied them. They were two girls, one a porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. At least her skin wouldn't be a standout here like it was in Phoenix.

Bella took the slip up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at her when he saw her name. He sent Bella to an empty desk at the back without introducing her to the class, which Bella was very grateful for. It was harder for the people on the classroom to stare at her in the back, but somehow, they managed.

When the bell rang 45 minutes later a gangly asian boy with hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to Bella.

"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" he looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.

"Bella," she corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at her.

"Where's your next class?" he asked.

She had to check in my bag. "Um, World History, with Jefferson, in building six."

Bella was getting nervous by the second, there was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes.

"I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way." _Definitely over-helpful_ , Bella thought "I'm Eric," he added.

Bella smiled tentatively. "Thanks."

They got their jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. She could've sworn several people behind they were walking close enough to eavesdrop. She just hoped she wasn't getting paranoid.

"So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked.

"Very."

"It doesn't rain much there, does it?"

"Three or four times a year."

"Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered.

"Sunny," she told him.

"You don't look very tan."

"My mother is part albino." Bella joked.

He studied her face apprehensively, and she sighed. _It looks like clouds and a sense of humor don't mix around here_. A few months of this and she'd forget how to use sarcasm. Or she'd just have to stick with Leah. She wondered if she could transfer schools to the reservation even if she wasn't part of the tribe, like some sort of exchange student.

They walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked her right to the door, though it was clearly marked.

"Well, good luck," he said as she touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.

She smiled at him vaguely and went inside.

The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. Her Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, who she would've hated anyway just because of the subject he taught, made her stand in front of the class and introduce herself. She stammered, blushed, and tripped over her own boots on the way to her seat.

After two classes, Bella started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask her questions about how she was liking Forks. Bella tried to be diplomatic, but mostly she just lied a lot. At least she never needed the map.

One girl, Jessica, sat next to her in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with Bella to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than Bella's five feet four inches, but her wildly curly brown hair made up a lot of the difference between their heights.

They sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to Bella. She forgot all their names as soon as they spoke them. They seemed impressed by Jessica's bravery in speaking to the new girl. The boy from English, Eric, waved at her from across the room.

It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that Bella first saw _them_.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where the other students sat as possible in the long room. There were six of them. They weren't talking and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. All of them too focused on their phone, each one seemly to do something different with it. They weren't gawking at her, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held Bella's attention.

They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was big, muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, french crop hair. He was dressed like he just came out of a Kanye West runaway show. Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular with honey blond long curly hair, his preppy style made him look like he was older than he should, older than a college student. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, wearing normal clothes someone of their age should use.

The girls were opposites. The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction. She wore a colorful dress, something that made her look like a art student. The other with the brown hat was medium sized, her hair bronze-colored just like the last boy, with a bright smile on her face, she laughed at something the big guy said. Her style could be described as something out of the 70s, the 'bohemian chic' fashion nowadays, very pretty in comparison with the other girls of their school, she exhaled a 'hippie' vibe and Bella couldn't help but think that she'd be someone fun to have around.

Bella then changed her interest to the last one in the table, and nothing could've prepared her for it. Standing in the right side of the table, far from the others was the most gorgeous person Bella had ever seen. She had a tall statuesque figure, the kind you saw on the cover of Vogue, that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was a blonde ombre, with the tip of her hair a bright color of blonde, almost platinum blonde, gently waving to the middle of her back, her clothes nothing but the most glamorous things Bella was sure she bought on a brand shop on 5th Avenue or Champs-Élysées, definitely not something she luckily found in a second hand store in Forks.

And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. Paler than Bella, the 'albino chick'. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes, purplish; bruiselike shadows, like they weren't familiar with the concept of sleeping at night or as if they almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses like all their features, were straight, perfect.

Bella couldn't look away. They were so inhumanly beautiful, like some sort of energy was making her pay them attention to appreciate their beauty. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a Teen Vogue, with the exception of the blonde girl, she was definitely Vogue material, but never in a place like Forks. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful after the blonde, maybe the bronze-haired boy. Or the hippie girl, but Bella couldn't quite decide for sure.

They were all inserted in their own little bubble, like they were the only ones there. Bella kept watching until the small girl rose with her tray and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway, amazed at the girl's lithe dancer's step, till she dumped her tray and glided through the back door, faster than Bella would have thought possible. Her eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.

"Who are they?" Bella asked the girl from her Spanish class, Jessica.

As Jessica looked up to see who Bella was talking about, the drop-dead gorgeous blonde looked at their table. She looked at Jessica for just a fraction of a second and then her dark eyes flickered to Bella's.

She looked away quickly, more quickly than Bella could've done first, though in a flush of embarrassment she dropped her eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, her face held nothing of interest, just as if Bella had called her name, and she'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.

Jessica giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table just like Bella.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, Ophelia Sinclair and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen, she's really weird; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.

Bella glanced sideways at the beautiful girl, who was looking at her tray now, picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. Her mouth was moving very quickly, her perfect lips barely opening. The other four looked away, and yet felt like she was speaking quietly to them.

 _Strange, unpopular names_ , Bella thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. _But maybe that was in vogue here_.

"They are... very nice-looking." Bella struggled with the conspicuous understatement.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all together though. Emmett and Ophelia, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town.

"They kind keep to themselves." Angela, the brown-haired girl from her World History said.

"Yeah, 'cause they're all together. Like together, together. I'm not even sure that's legal."

"Jess, they're not actually related." Angela insisted.

"Yeah, but they live together. It's weird."

"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked, intrigued.

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins, the blondes. And they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children." Bella pointed out.

"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that." Jessica continued.

"That's really kind of nice, for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."

"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and Bella got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, she would presume the reason was jealousy. _Who wouldn't be jealous of their beauty?_

"I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.

Throughout all this conversation, Bella's eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. They continued to look at their phones and not eat.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" Bella asked. Surely she would have noticed them on one of her summers here. It was indeed a small town after all.

"No," Jessica said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like Bella. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Iceland."

"Iceland?" Bella asked impressed. "They must be loaded."

"Oh, they are. Or at least is what their clothes and cars gives away, no one's ever seen their house." Jessica admitted, a conspiracy tone to her voice.

Bella felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. And relief that she wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.

As she examined them, one of the boys, looked up and met her gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As she looked swiftly away, it seemed that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" she asked as she peeked at him from the corner of her eyes, and he was still staring at her, but not gawking like the other students had today.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." Jessica sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. Bella wondered when he'd turned her down.

Bella bit her lip to hide her smile. When she glanced at his table again his face was turned away, but she could've sworn his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.

"He's the one single, right?" Jessica nodded "Doesn't he have some kind of thing with the other girl that's also single? You said they're all together."

"Rosalie? Oh no, she's picky like him, but like one hundred times worse. She doesn't even acknowledge other people when they talk to her, as if she can't see them or something." Jessica glanced at a blonde guy across the cafeteria and came close to Bella so she could spill the tea "There's this one time when Mike asked her out, she didn't even looked at him even once. It was cringe to watch. And that because Mike's one of the popular guys around here. She must probably only date college dudes, or whatever."

After a few more minutes, the five of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful, even the big, brawny one. The girl named Rosalie didn't look at Bella again, nor did Edward.

Bella sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than she would have if she'd been sitting alone, but she put on her earphones, eager to shut down the conversation with some good music but keeping an eye on the clock so she wouldn't be late for class on her first day.

One of the girls she met that day, and actually liked, Angela, had Biology II with her the next hour. They walked to class together in silence. She was shy, too. When they entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table. She looked at Bella with an apologetic face once she realized that Bella would stay without a neighbor.

In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, Bella recognized Ophelia Sinclair by her hat, something that Bella wasn't sure was allowed in school grounds, sitting next to that single open seat.

As Bella walked down the aisle to introduce herself to the teacher, she watched the girl surreptitiously. Just as she went to sit next to her, Bella stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch herself on the edge of a table, a dark shade of pink creeping on her face. A warmer laugh came from the girl and Bella looked away quickly, shocked, but returned the smile. The students around them giggled.

The first thing Bella noticed was that the girl's eyes were golden, like pure melted gold. It gave her a more unique feature.

"Hey." said a quiet, musical voice.

"Hi." Bella said with an awkward small wave of hand.

"I'm Ophelia Sinclair," she continued, introducing herself "You must be Bella Swan, right?"

"You know about me?" Bella was surprised with the fact, if the way they ignored her in the cafeteria was anything to go by.

"Of course. I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you the Chief's daughter to arrive."

Bella grimaced. She knew that was one of the consequences of being the chiefs' daughter in a small town, but still.

Before Bella could come up with something to say the teacher started class. She exchange another small smile with the girl sitting next to her before dragging her eyes to stay focused in the front row, where her teacher was currently explaining the lab they'd be doing.

The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, they had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. They weren't supposed to use their books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

"Get started," Mr. Molina commanded.

"You wanna go first, partner?" Ophelia asked and Bella looked up to see her smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that she could only stare at her like an idiot. Was it possible she was crushing on this girl right off the bat? "Or I could start, if you wish." The smile slightly faded.

"No," Bella said, flushing. "I'll go ahead."

She was showing off, just a little. She'd already done this lab, and she knew what she was looking for. Back in Phoenix she'd take AP classes whenever possible, so this should be easy.

She snapped the first slide into place under the microscope and adjusted it quickly to the 40X objective. She studied the slide briefly.

Her assessment was confident. "Prophase."

"Do you mind if I look?" Ophelia asked as Bella began to remove the slide. Her hand caught Bella's, to stop her, as she asked. Her fingers were ice-cold, like she'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. Bella eyed the girl, a stunned expression adorning her face.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, pulling her hand back immediately. However, she continued to reach for the microscope. "Prophase," she agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on their worksheet.

She swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily.

"Anaphase," she murmured, writing it down as she spoke.

"May I?" Bella said trying to keep her voice indifferent.

Ophelia smirked and pushed the microscope to her. Bella looked through the eyepiece eagerly, only to be disappointed. _Dang it, she's right_.

"Slide three?" Bella held out her hand without looking at the girl. She handed it to Bella as it seemed like she was being careful not to touch her skin again.

"Interphase." Bella passed her the microscope before she could ask for it. She took a swift peek, and then wrote it down.

They finished before anyone else and as Bella glanced at the watch in her wrist she noticed that there was still some time to kill before class was finished.

"So," Ophelia took the opportunity to make small talk "How are you liking town, so far?"

"It's..." Bella squinted her eyes trying to come up with a word to best describe it "Something, I suppose. Different and at the same time the same as I remembered." Bella let a little chuckle "I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a boring place to live."

"Oh, so you used to live here?"

"No, not really. I was born here, though, but mom and dad got divorced when I was 3 and I went to live with her but I spent every summer with my dad." Bella looked out of the window to see that it was raining "I never got used to the weather here."

"You don't like cold, rainy days?"

Bella shook her head with such intensity that it startled Ophelia "I grew up in California before moving to Arizona, so I can say that I'm pretty much used to sunny, hot days."

Ophelia leaned over as if conspiratorially "I don't like the weather, either. I love sunny days, but unfortunately there are so many here in Forks. Gotta make the best of them when it happens."

Before Bella could ask what Ophelia meant by 'making the best of the sunny days', Mr. Molina came to their table then, to see why they weren't working. He looked over their shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.

"So, Miss Sinclair, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Molina asked.

"Actually, she identified three of the five." Ophelia said matter-of-factly and Mr. Molina looked at Bella with a skeptical expression.

"Have you done this lab before?" he asked her.

Bella smiled sheepishly before nodding "Not with onion root."

"Whitefish blastula?"

"Yeah."

Mr. Molina nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"Well," he said after a moment, "I guess it's good you two are lab partners." he glanced at the watch on the wall above the blackboard before turning to talk to the pair "Since you two finished in record time, I guess I can make an exception and let you guys leave class earlier." He mumbled something else as he walked away.

Bella started to gather her things inside her backpack before she noticed that Ophelia wasn't next to her but instead waiting for her on the outside of the door's class. Bella passed her teacher and said her goodbye before following her partner.

"Did he ever let you leave early?" Bella asked once they were walking the scarce hallways, everyone still in class.

"Yes, most of the time, actually. I have this tendency to finish early and them he gives me an assignment that I can either choose to make in class in my free time or take home as homework, and I always choose the later." she opened her arms "I like being 'alone' in the hallways, even if just for a minute. It's a nice contrast to all the chaos that comes with the bell ringing."

And just as she said it the bell rang announcing the end of the class and the beginning of the other, making Bella anxious about the fact that she totally forgot about her next class and that she has no idea where that class is.

She turned to look at Ophelia that continued to walk aimlessly, or at least it was what seemed to Bella, as if she didn't hear the bell ringing or didn't notice all the chaos she just spoke about forming right before their eyes and all around them.

"Uh, can you take me to my next class?" Bella asked sheepishly as it was hard for her to ask for anything from the girl standing next to her "It's just that I'm still trying to figure out my way around here and I'm pretty sure this class is in the other sid—" she continue to rumble until Ophelia interrupted her, her hands going to touch Bella's arms before stopping mid-action and dropping them to hold her bag.

"Of course, Bella." Ophelia smiled, making Bella swoon a little bit "Which one is it?"

"English AP."

Ophelia glanced at the end of the hall, smiling once she caught eyes of something or someone, Bella wasn't sure, before turning and making Bella turn with her.

"It is in the building next door." she explained once she saw the furrow in Bella's face.

"And your class is over there, too?"

"No, it's on the end of this hall, but I don't mind accompanying you." her smile was enough to make Bella drop the subject.

They managed to make to the class just 2 minutes late, but was enough to draw more attention once Ophelia opened the door to Bella and everyone stared at them, including the drop-dead gorgeous blonde from the cafeteria, the one and only infamous Ice Queen Rosalie Hale.

Her features hardened and her posture changed from where she was sat in the back of the class, away from everyone. Bella was immediately bewildered by the antagonistic stare she'd given her, a stare that somehow managed to get worse once she saw who was behind Bella. She exchanged what seemed like a fast and silent conversation with Ophelia, that reciprocated before she excused herself from Bella to go to her own class.

The teacher, Mrs. Lynch welcomed Bella into class, introducing her to the students before requesting that she find a place to sit so she could continue explaining what she'd been doing when Bella'd arrived.

Bella took a look around the class and found two sits available. One in the front row, close to the teacher's table and one in front of the blonde's table. Usually, Bella wouldn't mind sitting in the front of the class, especially in a class that she loved like English, but something inside her made her make her way to the table in the end of the class, and without even noticing she was standing next to it, looking at the blonde that up until that moment was engrossed in her own notebook, but once she noticed Bella standing in front of her she lifted her head and glared at her. The stiff position she assumed once Bella entered the class still on.

Bella stared back and the first thing she noticed aside how beautiful the girl was up-close was how dark her eyes were, a coal black, nothing like Ophelia's golden honey. And Bella couldn't help but wonder how the girl would look with them adorning her flawless face.

Rosalie continued to glare with a slight furrowed brow, daring Bella to say or do something, but didn't offer nothing to say. After what felt like forever Bella notice she had been staring and acting creepy before taking her sit and opening her material. She didn't take her eyes from her book but she could sense someone looking at her; she could feel it in her neck and the way her hair shivered with it.

Throughout the class Bella couldn't pay attention. At the beginning she kept reading the reading list the teacher gave her. It was fairly basic: Brontë, Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Chaucer, Faulkner. She had already read everything. That was comforting and for a minute Bella let her mind wander away from the class, to her mother, if she'd send Bella's folder of old essays or if she'd think that was cheating. But for the rest of the class Bella kept nervously scribbling in her notebook and gladly her teacher never asked her a thing, but the class seemed to drag longer than the others. Sometimes Bella would twitch her head left to the side just enough to peek at the girl behind her, and all the time she'd seen the girl glaring back, her black eyes full of revulsion. Bella was sure that if a look could kill, she'd be 6 feet deep under already.

Just a second before the bell rang Rosalie was out of her seat and out the door before anyone else was out of their seat. Bella sat frozen in her seat, staring blankly after her. _The fuck is wrong with her?_ Bella thought. She began gathering up her things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled her, for fear her eyes would tear up and she'd drawn more attention. For some weird reason, her temper was hardwired to her tear ducts, usually crying when she was angry or in a extremely stressful situation, a honest humiliating tendency.

"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked, startling Bella.

She looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at her in a friendly way. He obviously didn't hate her.

"Bella," she corrected him, with a smile.

"I'm Mike."

"Hi, Mike."

"Do you need any help finding your next class?"

"I have a free period, actually. I'm heading to the administration office, I think I can find it."

"I have free period, too. I can totally accompany you." he seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.

They walked to the administration class together. All the while he talked, supplying most of the conversation, which made it easy for Bella. She found that he'd lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how she felt about the sun. It turned out he was in her gym class also. He was one of the nicest person she'd met today.

Bella entered the room, Mike following close by, but as soon as she entered she nearly left once she saw Rosalie talking to the woman on the other side of the balcony. She didn't appear to notice the sound of their entrance.

"There must be something open. Another AP class, perhaps? Art History? Latin?" Rosalie said with a sweet smile on her face, as if she was trying to seduce the woman into giving into her will.

Her voice was like velvet to Bella's ears, the most beautiful thing she's ever heard. She was so entranced in it that she didn't notice the nature of the conversation. The girl was trying to change classes because of her, Bella couldn't believe what was happening.

"No," the woman behind said after glancing once more to the computer in front of her "Every class is full. I'm afraid you'll have to stay in English AP, I'm sorry." And she really looked sorry for not being able to help the blonde.

Once she saw Bella and Mike standing at the door looking at them the woman gestured for them to wait a moment and that was when Rosalie noticed her standing there staring at her. She immediately straightened, glaring back with her piercing, hate-filled eyes.

The intensity was such that Bella stumbled back with fear and Mike had to grab her by the arms so she wouldn't hit her back on the wall.

"I'll just have to endure it, then." Rosalie said and in a swift movement she strided out of the door. Bella followed suit a moment later, distressed, completely forgetting the reason why she went to the administration office in the first place.

Bella didn't notice that Mike was still following her until he spoke again.

"So, did you stab Rosalie Hale with an eyeliner in the girl's room or what? I've never seen her act like that."

"You noticed that, huh?" Bella cringed "I don't know what I ever did to this girl, seriously. This is my first day and I feel like she already planned my death." Bella joked but she would never know how right she was.

"Yeah," he said. "She looked like she was ready to jump on you or something."

"I never even spoke to her."

"She's just a mean girl," Mike said with some sort of dislike in his voice and Bella remember Jessica saying that Mike once tried to ask Rosalie out and didn't even heard a response "You shouldn't take it personally. Her entire family is weird."

"I talked to Ophelia today, she's in my Bio class. She seemed nice." Bella felt an urgent need to defend the family, or at the least the only member she got to meet.

They reached the parking lot, most of the students using the free time to go home early. Bella's eyes automatically scanned to see if she could find the family in question.

"Ophelia's... okay, I talked to her, too. She's the 'normal' of the bunch, her boyfriend, too, Emmett, the big guy. We have social studies together, he's pretty funny." Mike mumbled but Bella wasn't paying any attention.

Bella got to her car and Mike said goodbye before going to his own car, parked just across from hers. Bella looked around once more and found all six of them standing next to expensive-looking sport cars - the one's Jessica mentioned earlier - looking at her.

They stopped once the bronze-haired guy, Edward, said something, catching their attention. Bella continued to watch, seeing how they all seemed to forget that they were staring at her not even 2 minutes ago, before Ophelia turned to look once more and smiled at her before Rosalie started saying something with a angry expression. A minute after she opened the driver's door of a too expensive red car and speed off the parking lot. Bella waited for the end of Gangsta's Paradise start to play and a explosion take place at the background, feeling like she was inside an action teen movie, but of course none of it happened.

Rosalie left her family to divide themselves in two groups and leave in two other cars, much less expensive than the one she drove, but still probably each one costing more than Charlie, Renée and Phil's annual salary combined together.

Bella took that as an excuse to hop inside her own old Chevelle and once she was inside she lost it, not being able to hold back the angry tears. She sat inside for a while wishing to lose the sense of reality around her with the weed Jacob had offered the day prior and for the end of the day as soon as possible.

She turned the key and started the engine, before taking off she also pressed the heater button and hooked her cellphone in the aux cable, she pressed play on her Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify, letting the soothing melody of a random song calm her troubled soul and headed back to Charlie's house, tears rolling down her face the whole way there. _I hate Forks._

* * *

 **A/N:** Yep, I shamelessly used whole passages from the books and I don't care because my idea is better than smeyer's ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Tell me if you guys liked it and want me to keep posting, but tbh I don't plan on updating it before 2019 because I'm travelling next month and I'll only be back in feb/19 so y'all have to wait.


	2. chapter ii

**A/N:** It's Feb/19 and here I am. I came back from my trip a few days ago but unfortunetly I got extremely sick when I got home so that's why it took me a little while to post, but now here it is. I worked on it while travelling so it can feel a little short and rushed, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

* * *

The next day was... the same.

It was a little better because it wasn't raining _yet_ , though the clouds were dense and opaque. It was a bit easier because Bella knew what to expect of her day. Angela came to sit with her in World History, and walked her to her next class. People didn't look at her quite as much as they had yesterday. She sat with a big group at lunch that included Angela, Mike, Eric, Jessica, and several other people whose names and faces she now remembered.

It was bad because she was tired. She didn't got a good night sleep because the wind kept echoing around the house. It was worse because Mr. Varner called her in Trig when her hand wasn't raised and she had the wrong answer. It was miserable because she had to play volleyball, and the one time she didn't cringe out of the way of the ball, she hit her teammate in the head with it. And it was insufferable because one Rosalie Hale was all she could think about and said blonde ignored her like she didn't even existed and that somehow was worse than continuing to act like Bella was the anti-christ.

Bella was sure that Forks was literally her personal hell on Earth and it was just her third day in town.

All morning Bella kept dreading lunch, fearing Rosalie's bizarre glares. Part of her wanted to confront the blonde and demand to know what was her problem. While she was lying sleepless in her bed, she even imagined what she'd say. But Bella knew herself too well to think she'd really have the guts to do it.

But when she walked into the cafeteria with Jessica, trying to keep her eyes from sweeping the place and search the one person that didn't left her mind, and failing entirely, she saw that the whole Cullen clan were sitting together at the same table, and the girl in question was not looking at her direction. Bella was surprisingly disappointed at that.

Mike intercepted Jessica and Bella and steered them to his table. Jessica seemed elated by the attention, and her friends quickly joined them. But as Bella tried to listen to their easy chatter, she was terribly uncomfortable, waiting nervously for the moment the Ice Queen would look at their direction. After yesterday she'd hoped that the blonde would simply ignore her, but that was far from what she truly wanted.

Rosalie didn't look, and as time passed Bella grew more and more tense. It was like she was waiting for something bad to happen.

After lunch Bella walked to Biology with Angela, ready to confront Ophelia about her sister's behavior. Bella spotted her sitting in their table, her eyes glued to her phone and a michivious smile adorning her face. She lifted her eyes up once Bella adjusted herself next to her.

"Hey Bella, how was your first day?" She asked kindly and Bella kept thinking how different the two girls were.

"It was... intense." Bella cringed at the choice of word.

Ophelia's brow furrowed for a second before she smiled again "I'm sure things will get easier now that the pressure of the first day is over."

Bella didn't say anything in response and Ophelia went back tipping on her phone. Sometimes she'd laugh at something that she read, while Bella was having an intern debate: if she should confront Ophelia about Rosalie or just forget it altogether. After a minute Bella decided that she wanted an answer.

"Can I ask you something?" She blurted out and Ophelia turned off her cellphone before turning to lean toward Bella, giving all of her attention.

"Shoot."

"What's the deal with your sister?"

"Which sister?" Ophelia seemed puzzled.

"The blonde one." Bella couldn't bring herself to say the girl's name out loud as if she'd show up out of nowhere and fight her just for voicing her name.

"Rosalie?" Bella nodded "Why? What did she do?"

"Nothing, to be honest," Bella admitted after some thought of how she'd explain what was happening "It's just the way she keeps looking at me, like I've just murdered a child or something. It's unsettling."

"Oh, don't worry. Rose's like that with everyone, so I wouldn't take it personally." Ophelia said and somehow being told to not take it personally offended Bella.

"It's _unsettling_." Bella muttered to herself again.

"It's just her bitch resting face. She's harmless, don't worry." Ophelia assured her with a smile, trying to dismiss Bella's worries.

"I don't know," Bella said, still not convinced "I feel like I've done something that really bothered her and I didn't even talk to her."

"Just ignore her, it's the best you can do." Ophelia insisted a little more firmly.

"A bit hard when she's in the same class as me."

"I see." Ophelia nodded slowly before continuing "Well, I can't say for sure if you've done something to offend her. The answer to that you'd only get asking her yourself, but I'm pretty sure you're just being a little _paranoid_." she squinted her eyes just a little while saying the last word "No offense."

"None taken, maybe I _am_ paranoid."

"Anyway, just ignore her like I said, I'm sure she's not going to bother you."

The bell rang announcing the start of class and Ophelia smiled at her wistfully and went to open her book.

Mr. Molina started the lecture that was on cellular anatomy, something Bella'd already studied. She took notes carefully anyway, but her mind kept going back to the conversation she had with her lab partner. She remembered the things Jessica said about the Cullens, how they never interacted with other students and maybe Ophelia was the only exception as was her boyfriend, like Mike said. So she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she was indeed being paranoid; that Rosalie was probably just the Ice Queen that hated everyone and everything without needing a reason.

The class went on and when Bella noticed, the bell rang again and the previous relaxation that she managed to build over the class was gone in a second when she realized that the next class was English. She _could_ be paranoid or she _could not_ be paranoid and the girl hated her for something she had done, either way she couldn't ignore the feeling she felt that the drop-dead gorgeous blonde was lethal and she was in danger every time she just as much as looked in her direction.

Bella said goodbye to Ophelia once they were out of the door and each one continued in a different direction. This time, Bella tried to fasten her pace so she'd get to the next building in time and after a few struggles getting herself out of the ocean of students she got to class in one piece and just in time.

Bella held her breath before entering the door, dreading the look she was sure she'd receive this time, but once she was finally inside the door no one looked at her. No other student looked and Bella was glad for it, but the silence she was receiving from the blonde was weird, for lack of a better word, and believe it because by then Bella was using any and every adjective to describe what was happen, or _not_ happen, in this case.

Rosalie was sitting in her usual place, eyes glued to her phone while her fingers tapped away in a surprisingly un-humanly fast pace, but no one seemed to notice. Her face was neutral and her posture natural, nothing like the body language that she gave the day prior.

Bella also noticed that today there was only one table available, the one in front of the school's teacher occupied by a student she didn't recognize. _They probably skipped school yesterday, so that's why_. The only table available was the one she used the last time. The one in front of Rosalie Hale.

Bella exhaled hard before starting her way to the back of the class. Her eyes darted to the girl sitting behind before sitting herself, waiting for the glare that now she was more than sure it'd come, but it never did. Rosalie kept tipping on her phone, her posture unaffected, like Bella was never there. _Was that what Jessica meant by her ignoring people?_ Bella felt bad for Mike.

The class started and Bella got to pay attention this time, even answering a few questions her teacher asked her, but inside her mind was a rueful of thoughts. She felt like trash for being ignored just like that, a feeling worse than the one she felt with the hatred glance she received yesterday.

Soon the class was over again and just like the last time, Rosalie was out of the class before anyone else. _Maybe that was something she did all the time_ , nothing related to Bella.

Mike came to her table again and offered to accompany her to their gym class with Chess Club Eric glaring at him all the while; _that was annoying._ It looked like Bella was going to have to do somethingabout them, and it wouldn't be easy. In a town like Forks, where everyone lived on top of everyone else, diplomacy was essential. Bella had never been enormously tactful. She had no practice dealing with overly friendly boys.

The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found Bella a uniform but didn't make her dress down for today's class. Back in Phoenix, only two years of P.E. were required. In Forks, P.E. was mandatory all four years. Bella wanted to die.

She watched four volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries she had sustained and inflicted playing volleyball, and by the end of the class she added a new one to the list making her feel faintly nauseated.

When the school day was finally done, and the blush was fading out of Bella's cheeks from the volleyball incident, she hurried from the girls' locker room, pleased to find that she had successfully evaded her retriever friend for the moment. She walked swiftly out to the parking lot, music blasting from her earphones.

The parking lot was crowded now with fleeing students. Bella got in her old Chevelle and dug through her bag to make sure she had what she needed. Last night she'd "discovered" that Charlie couldn't cook much besides fried eggs and bacon, something that in reality she knew, Renée told her about that before she moved. So Bella requested hesitantly that she should be the one assigned to kitchen detail for the duration of her stay. He was willing enough to hand over the keys to the banquet hall. She also found out that he had no food in the house, so that morning Bella had made a shopping list, grabbed the cash from the jar in the cupboard labeled FOOD MONEY, and now was on her way to the Thriftway.

Bella gunned her deafening engine to life and backed carefully into a place in the line of cars that were waiting to exit the parking lot. As she waited, trying to pretend that the earsplitting rumble was coming from someone else's car, she finally saw the Cullens getting into their cars. It was the shiny Volvo and a Mercedes this time. It seemed excessive for them to have both looks and money. But as far as Bella could tell, life worked that way most of the time. It didn't look as if it bought them any acceptance in school, though.

No, Bella didn't fully believe that. _The isolation must be their desire_ , she thought. She couldn't imagine any door that wouldn't be opened by that degree of beauty.

They all, with the exception of the blonde girl, looked at Bella's noisy Chevelle as she passed them, just like everyone else. She kept her eyes straight forward and was relieved when she was finally free of the school grounds.

The Thriftway was not far from the school, just a few streets south, off the highway. Bella thought it was nice to be inside the supermarket; it felt normal. She used to do the shopping at home, and she was gladly to fall into the pattern of the familiar task gladly. The store was big enough inside that Bella couldn't hear the tapping of the rain on the roof to remind her where she was. If she blocked her mind long enough she could pretend she was back in Phoenix; as nothing had changed.

When Bella got home, she unloaded all the groceries, stuffing them in wherever she could find an open space. She hoped Charlie wouldn't mind. She wrapped potatoes in foil and stuck them in the oven to bake, covered a steak in marinade and balanced it on top of a carton of eggs in the fridge.

When she was finished with that, Bella took her book bag upstairs. Before starting her homework, she changed into a pair of dry sweats, pulled her damp hair up into a ponytail, and checked her messages for the first time. **3 new messages from Renée.**

" _How is things in Forks? Write me as soon as you get this. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I miss you already. I'm almost finished packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you know where I put it? Phil says hi. - Mom._ " the first read and before Bella could reply she decided to read the rest " _Why haven't you texted me back yet? What are you waiting for? - Mom._ " that was sent 2 hours after the first one " _Isabella, If I haven't heard from you by 5:30 p.m. today I'm calling Charlie._ " Bella rolled her eyes at that one, her mom being extra dramatic when she wanted.

She glanced at the hour at the top of her phone screen and saw that she had still an hour to reply the message before Renée made a scandal of it.

" _Mom,_ " she typed and hit send before continuing " _Calm down. I'm writing right now. Don't do anything rash._ " she sent it and began again " _Everything is great. Of course it's raining. I was waiting for something to write about. School isn't bad, just a little repetiti–_ " she stopped mid-sentence and deleted everything she wrote before tipping again and sending a quick " _I'm calling you, it's better if we talk._ "

So she hit the call button and waited for her mother to pick up, and Renée did after the 6th ring.

"Hey mom." Bella greeted her.

" _Honey, hi! How are you? Why did you take so long to answer me? You've been in Forks for more than 48h and I hadn't heard a single thing from you._ " Renée bombarded her with questions and Bella smiled at it, missing her mom's flustered way of talking.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. First day I met some kids I used to play when I was younger. Harry Clearwater's children, you know?" Renée hummed sinilized she remembered "Yeah, so we drove around town with the car dad bought me. When I got home I was so tired I totally forgot to call."

" _So Charlie bought you a car, huh? What kind of car? Are you being safe? Driving with the seatbelt on and respecting the signals?_ " the protective tone clear in her voice.

"It's an old Chevelle, I don't remember the year, but I love it, I'll send you a pic after. Charlie refurbished it, installed a new music system, which is all I wanted, really. You'd love it. And of course I am being safe, mom," Bella rolled her eyes again, something she usually did everytime she talked to her mother "and it's not like I have anything to worry about. Forks it's a old town, nothing like Phoenix chaotic traffic and if that wasn't enough my dad's the Chief of Police, so it's not like I can do anything anyway" she half-joked and chuckled to let her mother know she didn't mean it. Sort of.

" _That's not funny, Isabella. Don't go try this on Charlie, I'm sure he'd be the first one to let you grounded if anything happens._ " Renée said with a stern tone.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, your blouse is at the dry cleaners, you were supposed to pick it up Friday, remember?" It was a retorichal question, of course her mother forgot it.

" _Oh, yeah, yeah. Now I remember, thank you, sweetie._ " Renée said with relief in her voice. " _I'm going there today. Now tell me about school."_

Bella bit her lip, not sure if she should worry her mother about the "Rosalie drama" and her strange behavior, which was honestly the only thing happening in her school life since she arrived in Forks and expect her to get worried because of it or if she should say and expect her mother to give her some advice, Renée was good at it.

"Uh, it's the same as in Phoenix, just way smaller." she started with a low voice.

" _Made any friends? Meet any boys? Girls?_ " Renée's voice suggestive by the end.

"Yes, I met some friendly kids. There's two nice girls in my Bio class, Ophelia and Angela, really nice people. But there's this girl..." she trailed off, not sure of what to say.

" _Oh, do tell!_ "

"It's nothing like that," Bella cut her mother before she'd start to get any idea "She's actually kind of a mean girl I'm having problems with."

" _What do you mean having problems with? You've been in Forks for 3 days?!_ " Renée asked confused.

"Exactly, I've been in school just for a couple of days and I already have an arch nemesis." the term seemed about right.

" _But have you done something to her?_ " Her mother's voice too accusatory for Bella's liking.

"What? No, of course not. I've never even talked to her."

" _So how do you have a problem with her, Bell_?"

"It's the way she looks at me... Like I've insulted her whole family or ran over a puppy or I don't know, whatever you think it's bad enough for someone to hate me, _that's_ the way she looks at me." Bella tried her best to explain.

" _Have you tried talking to her? Maybe she was just having a bad day._ "

"I don't think that's the case, she acted this way Monday but today she completely ignored me, like I was invisible or something and I sit right in front of her." she insisted. _How come no one thought it meant something else?_

" _That's weird. Maybe you should try and talk to her, ask if you've done something."_ Renée offered _"But don't apologize, she may just be trying to intimidate you, who knows._ "

"Yeah, maybe." Bella agreed, she hadn't thought about that possibility "I confronted her sister, Ophelia, the one in my Bio class about it but she said it's just the way she is, like a bitch to everyone without a reason. Maybe I should drop it."

" _You should do what you think it's right, honey, but I'd give it some time before doing anything about it. Maybe she'll keep ignoring you and that was just because you're the new kid and she was envious of all the attention you received. She's probably just an attention seeker."_ Renée said and then there was a pause before she continued _"Baby I gotta go, still gotta go to the dry cleaner find my shirt, but I'll talk to you later, okay?_ "

"Okay."

" _Good-night, be careful with your new car and don't mind other people's opinion, you don't own 'em anything."_ Renée reminded Bella _"I love you, and answer me when I text you, alright? Or I'll worry._ "

"I will, I promise. I love you, too, mom. Bye." Bella said before she hung up the phone.

After the call ended Bella decided to read The Dharma Bums, the novel her mother gave her as a goodbye gift and that's how she spent the rest of her afternoon waiting for Charlie to come home. Once she heard the door opening and then closing she realized she'd lost track of the time, and hurried downstairs to take the potatoes out and put the steak in to broil.

"Bella?" Charlie called out when he heard her on the stairs.

"Hey, Dad, welcome home."

"Thanks." He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots as she bustled about the kitchen. As far as Bella was aware, he'd never shot the gun on the job. But he kept it ready. When she came here as a child, he would always remove the bullets as soon as he walked in the door. Bella guessed he probably considered her old enough now not to shoot herself by accident and not depressed enough to commit suicide.

"What's for dinner?" he asked warily. Renée was an imaginative cook, and her experiments weren't always edible. Bella was surprised, and sad, that he seemed to remember that far back.

"Steak and potatoes," she answered, and he looked relieved.

He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing; he lumbered into the living room to watch TV while she worked, making a salad while the steaks cooked, and set the table.

She called him in when dinner was ready, and he sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the room.

"Smells good, Bell."

"Thanks." Bella smiled at the compliment.

They ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. Neither of them was bothered by the quiet. In some ways, they were well suited for living together.

"So, how did you like school after your second day? Have you made any friends?" he asked as he was taking seconds.

"Well, I have a few classes with some girls I mentioned last night, Angela and Jessica. I sit with their friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice."

 _With one outstanding exception,_ she though warily.

"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid, nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here."

Bella didn't pay attention to what he was saying about Mike, her mind again dangerously wandering back to the blonde. She wondered if Charlie was familiar with the Cullens at all.

"Do you know the Cullen family?" she blurted before she could stop herself.

"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They—his dau—his kids are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."

Charlie surprised her by looking angry.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him, lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature, I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should, camping trips every other weekend... Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

It was the longest she'd ever heard Charlie say. She was surprised he had that much to say about the mysterious family. _He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying_ , she thought.

"They seemed nice enough to me." Bella lied, not wanting to bring the Rosalie subject, afraid of what her father'd say "I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," she added, trying to be more complimentary.

"You should see the doctor," Charlie said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."

They lapsed back into silence after that, finishing eating. He cleared the table while Bella started on the dishes. He went back to the TV, and after Bella finished washing the dishes by hand, she went upstairs unwillingly to work on her math homework.

That night it was finally quiet. Bella fell asleep quickly, exhausted.

* * *

 _Bella kept wandering around, she couldn't recognize the place if her life depended of it. The place looked like a palace, like something that came straight from Marie Antoinette-era. It was all gold with no mobility, the roof had a beautiful paint all over it like the Sistine chapel. The room was filled with people, frozen on their feet, not moving a inch. She managed to walk around, but every time she felt she was close to reach the end of the room it seemed like she was a hundred miles away from actually reaching it._

 _When she turned around everyone was walking all of the sudden, going to different directions. They walked past her, their eyes a crimson color, looking straight ahead, as if she was not there. Their bodies covered in black mantles, walling with such a grace that it seemed like they were floating._

 _Bella kept walking against the flow, to the side she came from, hoping to find a door there to get her away from where she was._

 _It took a moment before she spotted a wooden door, in the left side of the wall. She fastened her pace, wanting to leave as soon as possible. She was a walk away from it when for some inexplicable reason she turned her head right and saw a blonde hair in the crowd. It caught her attention immediately as everyone else sported a black hood._

 _She wasn't able to see their face for the second after she was completely alone in a dark room full of mirrors._

 _She knew it was a mirror, but the reflection she saw was far from being herself. It was a girl, no, a woman standing with a straight posture, something that Bella didn't have, with her hair full and healthy, a much brighter and colorful shade o brown. Her eyes were red just like everyone in the other room, but not as crimson, it was closer to a burnt orange shade. The reflection wore fancier clothes than Bella ever did and her skin was paler than she actually is. But what was the most astonishing of it all was the shiny and most certainly expensive brown diamond on the fourth finger of her left ring._ She was engaged.

 _The thought of being engaged to someone scared her more than the creepy red eyes or how she looked nothing like what she was seeing. Her eyes zoomed over the reflection over and over again, but it kept going back to the gemstone. It was obvious that the reflection was Bella; maybe a future version of herself but it didn't seem like her at all, even with the slight resemblance to what she knew she truly look like. And yet she was sure it was her._

 _The feeling of a warm hand brushing through her own broke her train of thought. She glanced to her left hand on the reflection but she couldn't see anything. The hand then intertwined with her's and she decided to look at it directly. She saw a perfect manicured pale hand there, holding her's, confirming that what she felt was real; confirming that she wasn't going crazy._

 _She glanced at the mirror again, expecting to see something this time, but she saw nothing standing behind her._

 _She kept looking when she felt a soft breath in the back of her neck, sending goosebumps all over her body. The ghost of a lip brushed over her shoulder blade before coming to rest in her earlobe._

 _Bella closed her eyes involuntarily, the feeling too good to resist._

" _You're mine." a rusky velvet voice said, and Bella could've sworn she heard that voice before._

* * *

Bella woke the next day feeling refresh with a little melancholic feeling attached to it. It was the first time since coming to Forks that she had a good night sleep, nothing waking her in the middle of the night.

She took advantage of it to try and make a better effort today. She even chose a better outfit for the day, her self-steam higher than it had been since stepping foot to the rainy city.

On the way to school she sang along with Cher's version of Abba's Super Trouper blasting from her car's speakers. No one knew, not even her own mother, but Bella was low-key crazy about musicals. She'd always go to the theater when a new one was playing, always with the pretext that it was for the sake of increasing her knowledge of cinematography. Her digital movie library in her external hardrive full of all kinds of musicals, from the classics as the Wizard of Oz and Singing in the Rain to more recent ones like La La Land and the Greatest Showman. Name any musical and Bella probably saw it. But not that she would ever admit it to anyone. _Ever._

It was with this improved mood that Bella faced yet another day in school.

It was the same as the previous days. She was getting better at recognizing people, she opened herself up a little more to the cute girl Angela, the only person besides Ophelia that Bella really liked. Her kindness didn't sound fake as Jessica's or with second intentions like the boys, so she was happy to have someone to talk.

Ophelia was her usual self, always with a smile on her face for seeing Bella. They even talked a little in the hallways before each one going to their respective classes. Bella was relaxed, by the third day no one looked at her for being the new kid anymore, it felt like things were starting to feel normal, and she was glad for it.

On the other hand Rosalie Hale continued to ignore her. And Bella was so determined to not let it bother her that she decided to take her mother's advice and ignore the girl, too. She'd do her best to keep from glancing at the blonde or even thinking about her. And she succeeded, sort of.

Since the first day, she held her will to watch the Cullens enter the cafeteria, but every day she failed. After seeing that they were there and that Bella's personal nemesis was not looking her way, Bella would force herself to turn away and continue whatever she was doing. She'd try and relax and join in the lunchtime conversation. Mostly it centered around a trip to the La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Mike was putting together. Bella was invited, and had agreed to go, more out of politeness than desire. She didn't mention her friends, but she planned on asking Leah if they'd come, too.

The rest of the week was uneventful. Bella got used to the routine of her classes. By Friday she was able to recognize, if not name, almost all the students at school. In Gym, the kids on her team learned not to pass her the ball and to step quickly in front of her if the other team tried to take advantage of Bella's weakness. She happily stayed out of their way.

By the end of the week Bella was perfectly comfortable entering her English class, no longer worried that Rosalie would suddenly kill her. For all she knew, she could be a degenerated girl, nothing like what Charlie said.

Her first weekend in Forks passed without incident, too. Charlie, unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. Bella cleaned the house, got ahead on her homework, and called her mom. She drove to the library Saturday, but it was so poorly stocked that she didn't bother to get a card; she'd have to make a date to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore.

Sunday Bella drove to La Push to visit her friends. Leah and Jacob were happy to see her, unfortunately Seth had a project to finish so he'd stayed home.

Bella filled them with her tragic school life without even mentioning the tragic part. She was afraid of start talking about the Cullens all the time and them somehow finding it out, even if Bella thought it was unlikely. They probably didn't have any friends in La Push either.

Leah suggested they'd go to their spot to pass the time. Jacob obviously brought the good shit with them and a few baked edibles that he'd done, feeling that Bella'd need it in the following week.

Bella parked in the same place she parked last time and let the door's open so they could list to the song coming from the speakers, Black Gold by Foals blasting at the maximum volume.

"So, some people from my school are talking about coming down here in a couple weeks. You guys should go, too. To rescue me." Bella casually commented. "Don't leave me alone with those guys."

"Of course we're going." Jacob assured her with his perfect teeth, his hands working at a fast pace on their joint.

"Am I forced to interact with them?" Leah snorted "Because I am already forced to interact with a townie I didn't ask for."

Bella rolled her eyes "I think I may be getting used to your bitchy sense of humor, Leah"

"It's not a joke. I don't want to meet your friends." the Quileute girl insisted.

"They're not my friends. At least not all of them. There's only one girl I like, to be honest. She's coming too, if you could be nice with her."

"I'll think about it." Leah said but it was clear she'd appear.

"It's all I'm asking for." Bella smiled.

Jacob finish his work of art and hurriedly burnt it, wanting to start with it as fast as he could. He took a few hits before passing to Bella that rejected. His eyebrows raised in a silently question.

"I'm driving back alone, I don't think I should smoke it. I always get out of my body when I do it, even if just a little, so maybe some other time." She was sad for declining it, the weed being just what she needed to take the pressure off, but she was almost certain that something would happen on the way back if she as much as hit it once.

"Conscious girl." Jacob nodded before passing it to Leah that took it gratefully. "I brought a brownie I baked mixed with ganja, if you want to take home. I think I baked enough to last a week, if you're not to greedy to eat it all at once."

"Nah, I'm not that stupid. One time I ate five space cookies and I could barely move. I was so trashed that I promised to never eat it again." Bella commented "But I may take these goodies back with me. It's been an stressful week, I think it'll help."

Bella stayed with them for another hour before heading back home with Jacob's brownies. When she arrived, Charlie was already there, working less at Sundays. After saying her greetings to him and declining his offer at something he bought for dinner she went up to her room, where she stored the bowl with the goodies safely in a place Charlie wouldn't find if he for any reason needed to enter Bella's room while she wasn't there.

She was exhausted enough to just lay down and sleep, but she did an effort to shower before finally falling in her bed. One of the nicest things about Forks, her current bed being softer and more comfortable than the one back in Phoenix. That night Bella slept soundly, no dream invading her mind.


	3. chapter iii

**A/N:** A new chapter for y'all. Don't know when I'm gonna post again, sorry. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

People greeted Bella in the parking lot Monday morning. She didn't know all their names, but she waved back and smiled awkwardly at everyone. It was colder that morning, but happily not raining. In World History, Angela took her accustomed seat by her side. They had a pop quiz on economic effects of exploration. It was straightforward, very easy.

All in all, Bella was feeling a lot more comfortable than she had thought she would feel by eating a goodie before going to school. More comfortable than she had ever expected to feel in Forks. Maybe she'd start to eat it everyday.

When they walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. Bella could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at her cheeks and nose.

"Wow," Angela said. "It's snowing."

Bella looked at the little cotton fluffs that were building up along the sidewalk and swirling erratically past her face.

"Ew." Snow. _There went my good day._

Angela looked surprised. "Don't you like snow?"

"No. That means it's too cold for rain." Obviously. "Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes, you know, each one unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips."

"Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?" she asked incredulously.

"Sure I have." Bella paused. "On TV."

Angela laughed. And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked right next to their heads, missing them for a bit. They both turned to see where it came from. She had her suspicions about Jessica, who was walking away, her back toward them, in the wrong direction for her next class.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Bella kept walking as she spoke. "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside."

Angela just nodded, her eyes on Jessica's retreating figure.

Throughout the morning, everyone chattered excitedly about the snow; apparently it was the first snowfall of the new year. Bella kept her mouth shut, too lost on her on mind to care what they thought about some stupid snow. Sure, it was drier than rain, _until_ it melted in your socks.

Bella walked alertly to the cafeteria with Jessica after Spanish. Mush balls were flying everywhere. She kept a binder in her hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary. Jessica thought she was hilarious, but something in Bella's expression kept Jessica from lobbing a snowball at her herself.

Mike caught up to them as they walked in the doors, laughing, with ice melting the spikes in his hair. He and Jessica were talking animatedly about the snow fight as they got in line to buy food. Bella glanced toward that table in the corner out of habit. They were all there, looking as flawless as always.

Jessica pulled on her arm. "Hello? Bella? What do you want?"

Bella looked down; her ears were hot. She had no reason to feel self-conscious, she reminded herself. She hadn't done anything wrong.

"What's with Bella?" Mike asked Jessica.

"Nothing," Bella answered. "I'm just thinking what there's to eat today." she caught up to the end of the line.

"You're hungry?" Angela asked, appearing out of nowhere.

Bella just nodded blushing, her cheeks a dark shade of pink. The munchies had finally attacked. That was the downside of getting high in public, you start to eat like a monster. She picked what felt like a bit of everything, place it on her tray and waited for them to get their food then followed them to a table, her eyes on her tray, eager to start eating

She choose a seat that had her back to the _their_ table, too embarrassed of her eating habits while high for them to see. She was about to become a Tyrannosaurus and she didn't need an audience for that.

She tried and started slowly, eating a apple very slowly but then she started to think she must seem like a crazy person, eating that slow, so she started to eat it on a normal pace, or what she thought was a normal pace. 10 minutes later she was finished with everything on her tray. Twice Angela asked, with unnecessary concern, how she was feeling. She told her it was nothing; that she hadn't ate when she woke up, but Bella was wondering if she should play it up and escape to the nurse's office for the next hour with the amount of food she just consumed.

She didn't need to go, in fact, she was still very much hungry, but she didn't have the courage to eat anything else in front of them. They would finally catch up with the fact that she's crazy... _for weed_ , she thought, chuckling to herself at her stupid joke.

Bella decided to allow herself one glance at the Cullen family's table. _None of them glaring at me, just like the past week_. She exhaled loudly, it was expecting.

They were laughing. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair toward them. Ophelia was taking pictures of them on her cellphone. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else, only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of them.

But, aside from the laughter and playfulness, there was something different, and Bella couldn't quite pinpoint what that difference was. She examined Rosalie the most carefully. Her skin was less pale, she decided, flushed from the snow fight maybe. The circles under her eyes much less noticeable. But there was something more. She pondered, staring, trying to isolate the change.

"Bella, what are you staring at?" Jessica intruded, her eyes following Bella's stare.

At that precise moment, Rosalie's eyes flashed over to meet Bella's. The first knowledge since she decided to ignore Bella. But it happened so fast that Bella wasn't even sure it happened at all. Though Bella was sure Rosalie didn't look harsh or unfriendly as she had the last time she'd glared at her. She looked merely bored, unsatisfied in some way.

"Rosalie Hale was staring at you," Jessica giggled in Bella's ear.

"She didn't look angry, did she?" she couldn't help asking.

"No," Jessica said, sounding confused by Bella's question. "Should she be?"

"I don't think she likes me," she confided. The weed doing wonders to make her open up to someone as shallow and gossipy as Jessica of all people.

"The Cullens don't like anybody... well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them."

"Ophelia's not like that. She's in my Bio class, she's really friendly." Bella said defensively, sounding like her father. She laughed at the thought and Jessica looked at her like she was clinically insane, but didn't ask about it.

Bella raised her head enough to see if Rosalie was looking at them again, but she wasn't even in the cafeteria anymore. Every single Cullen vanished in the time she was talking to Jessica.

Mike interrupted them then, he was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school and wanted Bella and Jessica to join. Jessica agreed enthusiastically. The way she looked at Mike left little doubt that she would be up for anything he suggested. Bella kept silent. She'd probably have to hide in the gym until the parking lot cleared.

Bella and Angela walked together as usual to their Biology class. When they went to the door, everyone besides Bella groaned in unison. It was raining, washing all traces of the snow away in clear, icy ribbons down the side of the walkway. She pulled her hood up, secretly pleased. She'd be free to go straight home after Gym.

Once she arrived in the classroom Mr. Molina was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation.

She heard very clearly when the chair next to her moved, but her eyes stayed carefully focused on the pattern she was drawing.

"Hey Bella," said the musical voice she'd grown used to.

"Ophelia." Bella greeted her, not taking her eyes from the notebook.

"How was your weekend?"

"Stayed at home most of the time," she admitted "And you?"

"Same. There's nothing much to do in Forks, you're gonna notice that."

"Oh, believe me, I know." Bella chuckled, lifting her head enough to look at Ophelia that had her eyes glued to her phone, like it always was.

She glanced at Bella when she heard her laugh and started to laugh herself.

"Are you high, Bella?" she said a little too loud for Bella's liking.

"What? No—I'm—not. No. Shut upside ." Bella stuttered, blinking repeatedly, her head moving backwards, trying to create some distance between them.

Ophelia rolled her eyes "You can't even keep your eyes open, I'm surprised you're even seeing things."

"What?" Bella's hand went straight to her eyes in a reflexive manner. Ophelia laughed at again, her face a clear 'what-the-fuck-are-you-doing?'.

She opened the camera app in her phone and snapped a picture of Bella's face without announcing. She laughed at it before handing her phone to the girl sitting next to her.

Bella looked at the candid of her face. Her eyes indeed were smaller than the usual, and a little reddish, completely giving away her state. She was surprised that no one noticed before, or they noticed but decided to not comment. The latter made more sense.

"Don't tell anyone, I can explain." Was the first thing that came out of Bella's mouth, a feeling that she was in trouble creeping on her. Charlie would kill her if he knew she went to school that way.

"I won't rattle you, relax," Ophelia said, still laughing a little at the girl's antics "But I'd appreciate if you could share it next time." She finished with a wink.

"Oh," Bella's eyebrows raised in surprise, making her eyes double it's current size "So you're into it, too?"

"From time to time." Ophelia shrugged.

"I can hook you up, if you're sure. It's actually an edible."

"Awesome." Ophelia smiled "We should hang sometime, you know, after school or something."

"Totally." Bella agreed, her mind already running multiples scenarios of their hang out. She suddenly felt too cool for hanging out with a Cullen, one person she knew anyone in school would die to get to know.

She spent the rest of the class daydreaming, about absolutely everything, a side effect from getting high on a edible. She remembered things from when she was a kid, things she didn't remember anymore. She remembered things she wasn't sure if it was real or not. She remembered the dream she had last week and how odd it felt, it was like she could still feel the ring's weight in her finger. She needed to look at it just to make sure it wasn't there. By the end of class she was sure everyone noticed how weird she acted throughout the class.

When the bell rang Ophelia helped Bella gather her things, knowing the girl wasn't in the shape of doing it herself.

"How many did you ate?" she asked after they were out in the hallway.

"Two?" Bella muttered "Maybe three, not sure." she seemed confused "I don't remember." she admitted chuckling, her voice full of guilty.

"Wow, that's way too many, Bella." Ophelia said with no judgment in her voice.

"I didn't want to get stressed."

"Why? What's happening? Has someone been bothering you?" Ophelia sounded truly worried and Bella melted at the thought that the beautiful creature in front of her cared enough to be worried.

"No, it's nothing. Just haven't been able to adjust yet." she lied, not wanting to bring their discussion from last week about Ophelia's sister back.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Bella nodded to emphasize "Gotta go to class now."

"Can you go there by yourself? I can accompany you, no problem."

"Nah, I can do it. Besides, your class is in this building. Thank you though. See you after?" she half-asked half-stated.

"Sure."

Bella smiled at her and continued to walk while Ophelia stayed in place, watching Bella go before she disappeared through a door, just then turning around and continuing to her own classroom.

Bella took her sweet time to get to class, sure that if she hurried she'd trip over the snow and she wasn't certain if she'd be able to bring herself to stand up if that happened.

She arrived in class just a few minutes later, the teacher having no problem in allowing her inside. Trying to hurriedly get to her seat Bella stumbled in a bag standing in the middle of the hallways. Unfortunately she wasn't able to catch herself before falling to the ground, making everyone stare at her, even the ice cold blonde. From her place on the floor it felt like it lasted forever before Mike helped her get to her feet. She thanked him before finally taking her place.

"Are you alright, Miss Swan?" Mrs. Lynch asked.

"I am, sorry."

Mrs. Lynch continued class after that. She had assigned them Wuthering Heights, a book Bella was more than familiar with so she didn't feel guilty about spacing out, a way to ignore the glances she was receiving.

The class ended just as it started, Bella stumbling again but this time Mike was faster to catch her. They did they routine of walking together to Gym class. Mike was on her team today. He chivalrously covered Bella's position as well as his own, so her woolgathering was only interrupted when it was her turn to serve; Bella's team ducked warily out of the way every time she was up.

She was glad when she went to the parking lot, eager to get out of school ground as soon as possible. It was only a matter of time before someone else noticed how high she was. So this time Bella didn't waste anytime at searching anyone across the parking lot, she just hopped inside her Chevelle and started the engine.

She opted for not turning the music on, knowing she'd get distracted and she'd probably get herself in a car crash because of it. She did turn the heat on, though, anything to make the unbearable cold just a little bit bearable.

Bella chose to drive first to Sully's that was closer to the school so she'd grab a bite to eat and wait a little while to sober up before going home, knowing the greasy fast-food would do the trick.

After spending half an hour sitting alone in her Chevelle at the parking lot eating her food, Bella felt good enough to drive back home. When she arrived Charlie was still at the Police Station and even though she'd already ate, he hadn't. So she prepared a couple of stakes and placed a baking sheet full of potatoes and vegetables in the oven. She settled the timer right in her phone, with a loud sound and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was so tired she didn't even bothered to change before collapsing in her bed with the shoes on. She placed her phone next to her pillow and made sure it wasn't on silent mode before allowing herself to drift over.

She woke when the timer went off 45 minutes later, went downstairs and turned off the oven before returning to her room and sleeping again. She was long gone when Charlie finally arrived home.

* * *

The rest of that week and the following week went just the same, with the exception that Bella didn't ate anymore goodies until the next week on Friday, when she'd let herself have a little fun again.

As the days passed Bella noticed that it was easier to ignore Rosalie when it was clear that the girl would never talk to her. What was the point in keep worrying herself about her when the girl was a senior and would be out of school soon. Bella'd only have to endure her for a few more months before the blonde was gone to some expensive college on the East Coast or whatever.

On Tuesday, Ophelia saved Bella's number to her phonebook, saying she'd text her when she got some free time to hang with Bella like she suggested. Bella was too shy to ask for the girls number back, knowing she'd have it once the girl texted her.

On Wednesday, Bella received a text from Leah saying there was a party going on that weekend in La Push, at some guy's house. Bella texted back saying she was definitely going and asked if Leah could pick her, not wanting to drive back home while high and not wanting to cut on the partying too. Leah replied she'd be at Bella's by 6:30pm.

Bella was excited for the prospect of meeting new people that didn't go at the same school as her. And if they were anything like the Quileutes Bella knew, she was sure she'd like them. More than she liked the people at her school.

On Wednesday, Mike confirmed with her if she'd go to La Push with them on a couple of weeks. She said she'd go as long as she could control the music on the trip over and while they were there. Mike promptly agreed, happy to get to hang with Bella somewhere outside school.

On Friday it was the day that everything changed.

Bella woke up in that day with a strange feeling, but she didn't give it much thought. She dressed herself with a high waist light denim jeans, a colerful striped shirt tucked inside her jeans and her old high top red Converse. Her parka jacket thrown over to cover her from the cold that was outside.

She ate a single brownie before heading downstairs. She then ate a toast and drank grapefruit juice before finally facing the cold air outside. After she closed the door she jogged after her car, not wanting to stay in that cold as much as she absolutely needed.

Once inside the car she plugged her phone on the aux cord and chose Sad, Sad World by Jamie Cullum to start the day. A little moody tune that suited the day perfectly. She turned the heater all the way up before finally starting the engine.

The travel to her school already felt like a routine. Bella would usually take around 10min to 14min to make it there in a good day. Today with the snow on the ground it took her 20min, give it or take. By the time she arrived at school Malt Liquor by Lewis Del Mar was playing, one of her favorite songs. She waited until it was over before leaving for class.

Bella started to feel the goodies working in the middle of her first class. Everything seemed so far away out of the sudden. She smiled when she noticed it, being high making everything way more interesting.

Every single class Bella had that day seemed to drag for an enormous amount of time but once it ended it felt like it had just started. Bella liked losing her sense of time and reality. She spent most classes spacing out, her mind thinking about the party she was attending that weekend. She felt excited for it, the first time it happened since she arrived Forks.

At lunch, people kept trying to get her to talk, but all Bella wanted was to eat her food in peace. She used her earphone as a way to block everything around her, enjoying her food and her music and everyone got the hint and didn't bothered her for the rest of the lunch.

The rest of the day went just the same as the first time, Bella spacing out more often than not, but still conscious of her surroundings. She was way more sober than the last Monday, when she had ate 3 pieces of brownie. Maybe if she kept eating one or even half was enough to make her feel good without getting her on a dangerous state.

After Gym Bella was standing by the back corner of her Chevelle, listening to her music while inhaling fresh air to help her sober up, when she heard an odd sound.

It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud, enough for Bella to hear through her earphones. She looked up, startled.

Bella saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush combined with the THC seemed to make her brain work much faster, and she was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.

Rosalie Hale was standing six cars down from Bella, staring at her in horror. Her face stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the navy blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of Bella's old car, and she was standing between them. She didn't even have time to close her eyes.

Just before Bella heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the Chevelle's back, something hit her, hard, but not from the direction she was expecting. Her head cracked against the icy blacktop, and Bella felt something solid and cold pinning her to the ground. She was lying on the pavement behind the tan car she'd parked next to. But Bella didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the Chevelle and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with her again.

A low oath made Bella aware that someone was with her, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. Two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of her, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from Bella's face, the large hands fitting providentially into a deep dent in the side of the van's body.

Then her hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging Bella, swinging her legs around like a rag doll's, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt her ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt, exactly where, a second ago, Bella's legs had been.

In the blink of an eye Rosalie placed Bella gently on the floor before disappearing, Bella not even noticing to what direction she went.

It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began. In the abrupt bedlam, Bella could hear more than one person shouting her name. A crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at Bella.

"Don't move," someone instructed.

"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else shouted. There was a flurry of activity around her.

It took six EMTs and two teachers, Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp, to shift the van far enough away from Bella to bring the stretcher in. Bella tried to decline it, saying she was was fine, but some traitor told them she'd hit her head and probably had a concussion. Bella almost died of humiliation when they put on the neck brace. It looked like the entire school was there, watching soberly as they loaded her in the back of the ambulance.

To make matters worse, Chief Swan arrived before they could get her safely away.

"Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognized his daughter on the stretcher.

"I'm completely fine, Char—Dad," Bella sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion. Bella tuned him out to consider the jumble of inexplicable images churning chaotically in her head. When they'd lifted her away from the car, she'd seen the deep dent in the tan car's bumper, a very distinct dent that fit the contours of Rosalie's shoulders... as if she had braced herself against the car with enough force to damage the metal frame.

And then there was her family, looking on from the distance, with expressions that ranged from disapproval to fury to worry from Ophelia's part but held no hint of concern for their sister's safety. Odd to say the least.

Bella tried to think of a logical solution that could explain what she had just seen, a solution that excluded the assumption that she was insane.

All she could think of was that she was so high that she imagined the whole thing. If that was true, she'd only find it out the next day.

Naturally, the ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital. Bella felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloading her.

They put her in the emergency room, a long room with a line of beds separated by pastel-patterned curtains. A nurse put a pressure cuff on Bella's arm and a thermometer under her tongue. Since no one bothered pulling the curtain around to give her some privacy, she decided she wasn't obligated to wear the stupid-looking neck brace anymore. When the nurse walked away, Bella quickly unfastened the Velcro and threw it under the bed.

There was another flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to Bella. She recognized Tyler Crowley from her Government class beneath the bloodstained bandages wrapped tightly around his head. Tyler looked a hundred times worse than Bella felt. But he was staring anxiously at her.

"Bella, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine, Tyler. You look awful, are you all right?" As they spoke, nurses began unwinding his soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow slices all over his forehead and left cheek.

He ignored Bella. "I thought I was going to kill you! I was going too fast, and I hit the ice wrong..." He winced as one nurse started dabbing at his face.

"Don't worry about it; you missed me."

"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone..."

"Umm... I have no idea. It's like I blacked out and when I was back I was already on the other spot." Bella lied, a feeling that she shouldn't tell people about Rosalie before confronting the girl about it. After all, she wasn't even sure it all happened.

He looked confused. "It's impossible."

"I guess I'm just lucky." Bella'd always been a terrible liar; she didn't sound convincing at all.

They wheeled Bella away then, to X-ray her head. She told them there was nothing wrong, and she was right. Not even a concussion. Bella asked if she could leave, but the nurse said she had to talk to a doctor first. So Bella was trapped in the ER, waiting, harassed by Tyler's constant apologies and promises to make it up to her. No matter how many times she tried to convince him she was fine, he continued to torment himself. Finally, Bella closed her eyes and ignored him. He kept up a remorseful mumbling.

Then a doctor walked around the corner, and Bella's mouth fell open. He was young, he was blond and he was handsomer than any movie star she'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles under his eyes. From Charlie's description, this had to be Rosalie's father.

"So, Miss Swan," Dr. Cullen said in a remarkably appealing voice, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Bella said, for the last time, she hoped.

He walked to the lightboard on the wall over her head, and turned it on.

"Your X-rays look good," he said. "Does your head hurt? Chief Swan said you hit it pretty hard."

The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along her skull. He noticed when she winced.

"Tender?" he asked

"Not really." _I'd had worse._ "I'm fine," she insisted "It would've been a lot worse if Rosalie hadn't knocked me out of the way." she admitted, feeling like she could at least tell him that.

She hoped Tyler didn't heard her and for the lack of mumbling coming from his stretching Bella was sure he didn't.

Dr. Cullen smiled at Bella before quickly looking back at the chart, suddenly occupied with the papers in front of him. Bella intuition flickered, sensing he knew something.

"It was amazing how she got to me so fast. She was nowhere near me." Bella continued, hoping that he'd give anything away.

He just smiled "Well, your father is in the waiting room, you can go home with him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all."

Bella nodded before throwing her legs over the side of the bed and hopping down quickly. Too quickly. She staggered, and Dr. Cullen caught her. He looked concerned.

"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested as he steadied her.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," Bella insisted.

She made her way slowly to the exit at the end of the hallway. Charlie was waiting for her in the waiting room just like Dr. Cullen had said. He hurried to her side once he saw her. She assured him multiple times that she was fine before he'd finally accept it.

"There's nothing wrong with me," Bella assured him sullenly. She was still aggravated, not in the mood for chitchat.

"What did the doctor say?"

"Dr. Cullen saw me, and he said I was fine and I could go home." she sighed.

"I just have to sign some paperwork. You better call your mother." he said, still a little hesitantly about leaving Bella out of her sight.

"You told her?!" Bella argued appalled "She's probably freaking out right now."

She pulled out her phone and was about to call Renée when she saw three people standing down the hall, talking in a hushed tone.

It was Dr. Cullen, his son that Bella remembered as Edward and Rosalie.

"This isn't just about you, it's about _all_ of us." Bella could make out the voice as belonging to Edward, since it was the only one she had never heard before.

Bella was standing behind a pillar, trying to hide herself while she ears dropped, but Dr. Cullen glanced at her.

"Let's take this to my office. Shall we?" he suggested to his children.

Before they all left Bella stepped forward, making herself visible to all of them.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she intended it for Rosalie but was Edward that came to her. The blonde girl following her father without even sparing a glance at Bella's direction.

"I actually meant Rosalie. If I could talk to Rosalie." Bella explained. She contemplated the idea of ignoring the boy in front of her and just following after the girl, but she wasn't in the condition of chasing anyone.

"She's busy right now. How can I help you, Bella?" he asked, sounding annoyed. His eyes were cold. It felt odd hearing him say her name like they were old friends.

"I want to know if she's okay. To know how did she got to me so fast."

"She was standing right next to you, Bella." he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, completely ignoring her first question.

"No, she wasn't." Bella tried to assure him "She was literally across the lot, standing next to you and your brothers."

"No, she was right next to you." The way he looked at her, like she was insane. For a moment Bella actually thought she was going crazy.

"That doesn't even make sense. She hates me, we never even spoke, why'd she be staying next to me?"

Bella was sure of what she saw and she knew who did it. She also knew damn well that the person in question wasn't fond of her in the slightest bit. Rosalie avoided Bella like she was carrying some rare and very contagious plague. There was no way she'd be near her if she was not forced.

"You're confused. You hit your head."

"I know what I saw." she insisted.

"And what was that, exactly?" His tone growing angrier by the second.

"She stopped the van. She pushed it away. With her bare hands." She couldn't help but shout, trying to make her point pass through.

"No one will believe that." Edward snickered at her.

Her eyebrows shot down together, offended by the assumption "I wasn't planning on telling anyone."

"Look, I just want to know the truth, alright?" she continued after a few seconds, a silent plea in her words.

"Can't you just forget what happened and move on?" he said through gritted teeth, a barely audible growl escaping from his lips.

Bella shook her head with conviction. Of course she'd not forget what happened, not even if she wanted. How was that a serious question?

"You're not gonna drop it, are you?"

"Nope." She was definitely not going to drop it.

"Then I hope you enjoy disappointment." he said with a sarcastic smile before walking away, on the opposite side of where his family had disappeared.

Bella didn't have the will to follow after him, the exhaustion finally catching up with her. A small headache starting to creep upon her. She was so angry, it took her a few minutes until she could move again.

Charlie put one arm behind her back, announcing he was done with the paperwork and ready to go home. He led her to the glass doors of the exit. She waved sheepishly at her friends standing in the wait-room, hoping to convey that they didn't need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief, the first time Bella'd ever felt that way, to get into the cruiser.

They drove in silence. Bella was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she barely acknowledge Charlie at all. She was positive that Edward's defensive behavior in the hall was a confirmation of the bizarre things she still could hardly believe she'd witnessed.

When they got to the house, Charlie finally spoke.

"Did you call your mother?"

"No, I forgot. I'll call her now." Bella promised.

Bella slammed the cruiser's door a little harder than necessary on her way out. She was still mad at Charlie for telling Renée.

Renée was in hysterics, as expected. Bella had to tell her she felt fine at least thirty times before she would calm down. She begged Bella to come home, forgetting the fact that home was empty at the moment, but her pleas were easier to resist than she'd would have thought. Bella was consumed by the mystery the Cullens presented. And now more than a little obsessed by Rosalie herself. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. Bella wasn't as eager to escape Forks as she should be, as any normal, sane person would be.

Bella decided she might as well go to bed early that night. Charlie continued to watch her anxiously, and it was getting on her nerves. She stopped on her way to grab three Tylenol from the bathroom. They did help, and, as the pain eased, Bella drifted to sleep.

That night she had the same weird dream from last week. This time making any less sense than before.

* * *

When Bella woke that Saturday everything that happened in the day prior came rushing through her mind in what felt like an excessive amount of knowledge. It was enough to make Bella sure of what happened _really_ happened, that it wasn't some weird trip she had while high on weed. A drug Bella was sure to stay away for a little while, even if it didn't had anything to do with what happened.

That was Tyler's fault. _No_ , the ice's fault. Tyler couldn't help if he hit it and Bella just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it wasn't for Rosalie, Bella wasn't sure if she wanted to know what could've happened to her.

When she went downstairs her dad was waiting for her, sitting in the living room with his regular attires, saying he took the day off so her could keep an eye on her. As expected, Charlie argued with Bella about letting her go to the party in La Push later that day, when she has just suffered an accident. Bella had to remind him that she _didn't_ suffered an accident, just a scare.

She wanted to get out of the house and away from anyone that knew what Bella had to endure the day prior, basically anyone with an ear and a predisposition for gossip. She wanted to get her mind out of things, to forget the things hunting her mind, things she wanted an explanation and was only going to get it Monday.

Bella felt momentarily mad for not asking for Ophelia's number earlier that week. That'd come handy right now. But probably was for the good, Bella didn't have it. She would definitely be harassing the girl for answers and that'd mess with any chances of having the girl as an actual friend and maybe even an ally when she went to confront Rosalie.

It took some convincing and promising she woudn't do anything reckless for him to reluctantly agree, with the condition she'd be home before 11pm. She then quickly texted Leah to let her know she'd still be attending the party but chose to not reveal anything about what happened, preferring to talk about it in person.

Bella spent the rest of the day locked up inside her room. Charlie offered to make the lunch and called her when it was ready, she declined it saying she wasn't hungry. Herself actually not feeling too well to ingest any food yet. She stayed in bed tucked under her fluffy blanket watching films all afternoon. She started with Appropriate Behavior then when it was over she decided to watch Lost in Transition, a personal favorite

She was in the middle of her third film, the Virgin Suicides when Leah texted her saying she was on her way. Bella jumped out of bed in a hurry to find her something to wear. She had already showered earlier that day, so she was still clean enough. In the end she opted for a long sleeve turtleneck black shirt with a black jeans to match. She seat on her bed to put on her black oxford shoes.

Her phone rang announcing the receiving of a new text and she hurried to get everything she needed before heading downstairs. She found Charlie standing at the door talking to Leah.

"You make sure she's alright, capisce?" he said in a stern voice "If she's not feeling okay give me a call and I'll go get her."

"I'm going to be fine, dad" Bella interrupted in a hurried tone. What she didn't need was Charlie arriving at a party with underage kids full of alcohol and illicit drugs, with the cruiser to pick her up.

"Okay, okay. But if you need, I'm just a call away." Charlie insisted and Bella nodded.

She said her goodbyes to her father and followed Leah to her car. It was a black Volkswagen GTI. As soon they were inside Leah was already driving them to La Push. Her car system connected to a radio station.

"It's okay if I connect my phone?" Bella said once she saw an aux cord wrapped in the dashboard.

"Sure." Leah agreed and Bella did it. She scrolled past her playlists and went straight to search the song she wanted to hear. A moment later the Less I Know the Better by Tame Impala started to play, neither of them talking for awhile, the song being enough to fill the void left from the lack of conversation.

"So, were you planning on telling me you suffered a car accident or never occurred to you to mention it in the text you sent me this morning?" Leah said after waiting for Bella to say something.

"Huh, I wasn't in a car accident, per say." Bella said shrugging "A car almost hit me, but I got out without any scratches. End of story."

"Your dad said you knocked your head."

"Well, Charlie shouldn't be saying things he doesn't know." Bella said a little more harshly than she intended, but she couldn't help it. _Charlie should just keep his mouth shut like he did most of the time_.

"Did you?" Leah insisted, not caring about Bella's rising temper.

"Maybe." Was all Bella offered and Leah decided she should let the subject drop.

They drove the rest of the way until Sam's house in complete silence, Tame Impala's album Current's playing in the background. Leah drove carefully because of all the snow in the road so she took twice the time to get to the place. She parked in front of a two-store small log cabin surrounded by trees everywhere. A few other cars were parked there too, but not much since most of the guests where from La Push.

Leah exited the car and Bella did the same. The moment she was out of the car's warmth she cursed herself internally for not bringing a jacket. Hopefully Sam had a heater inside his house.

There was a hip-hop song playing loudly from inside the house, Bella could hear voices talking and someone laughing. The moment she entered the house everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her. Out of the sudden it was first day in school all over again.

Gladly Jacob and Seth bounced to greet her and Leah, breaking the ice of their entrance and everyone went on to continue whatever they were doing.

"Bella! Glad you came." Jacob said grinning. His eyes were already half way shut and Bella had no doubt he was high as fuck.

"Of course I'd come. I need to get to know your friends if I'm going to marry Seth someday." she joked, bringing back what she said when she saw them on the first day "Speaking of him, shouldn't you not be in this party? You're way too young for this." she turned to look at him.

"As long as I'm doing anything illegal I don't see the problem." Seth shrugged with a big smile on his face.

Bella narrowed her eyes once she saw he was holding a cup. She grabbed it from his hand and took a sip. OJ.

"Good boy, young Seth." she said huffing his hair.

They all went to the bar so they'd grab something to drink. Everyone except Seth and Bella. She had promised her father she wouldn't do anything, and drinking and getting drunk was definitely doing something. And in all truthfulness, Bella still wasn't ready to drink, her stomach still shaken from what happened yesterday.

Leah grabbed a cup and poured beer from the keg in the kitchen floor. Jacob made himself a screwdriver and Bella poured water in a cup, not wanting to drink orange juice either.

She took the time to glance around the room. What she found was several groups scattered around the house. There was people talking in the living room couch, people smoking from a bong, people playing Mario Kart on Wii. The majority was male and Bella remembered Leah saying that the parties were mainly full of testosterone, but there where some girls too. None as pretty as Leah, though.

A tall guy with cropped black hair appeared next to them.

"Leah, you're finally here." he said with an excessively wide grin, his arms ready to embrace her, but Leah was fast enough to push it away.

"Bella, that's Sam Uley. Sam, this is Bella Swan." Leah introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Bella." Sam said, turning his attention completely to the new girl. "Help yourself with anything you want, there's some goodies Jake baked for us," he looked around trying to find it "somewhere in here."

"Thanks, but I'm good sticking with water." Bella raised her glass to emphasize it.

"Suit yourself." Sam shrugged while pouring himself more beer. "You're really pretty, you know that, right?"

"She's not interested." Leah stepped in front of Bella, but her voice remained disinterested.

"Jealousy, much?"

"No at all. Just trying to let you know that not everyone wants to fuck you, Uley."

"Debatable." he snickered before walking away.

"So that's Sam." Bella said after watching him.

"That's Sam." Leah agreed.

"I still don't get why we come to his parties." Seth said, confusion written all over his face "He's an asshole."

"We come for the free booze, little brother." Leah smiled, her eyes catching a sight of a girl passing by "And the girls. Excuse me."

They watched as Leah walked in the direction of a raven-haired girl talking to another girl in the living room. Bella's eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I said her hobby is to hook up with random girls," Seth said after seeing how Bella was still watching his sister "Except that's not a random girl. Her name's Emily, Leah's been crushing on her for a long time, but she never got any further than talking. She's—"

"She's my cousin," Jacob interrupted with a disgusted face "But I mean, it's better than if she'd been after my sisters, I guess."

"And what about you? Not interested in any girl?" Bella asked Jacob after taking her eyes away from Leah "Or boy, I don't wanna assume anything."

"I'm not gay, but there's no girl I'm interested either."

"Young Seth?" she turned to address the younger boy.

"Nope, no girl for me either." Seth said.

"Well, that's a shame. You're both two wonderful guys. Any person would be lucky to date any of you." Bella admitted and Jacob and Seth just smiled at her kind words.

They walked to the living room to see if they could take a turn playing Wii and luckily they didn't find anyone there, not even Leah or the girl she was talking. So Bella and Seth decided to go first, Jacob saying he was way to high to play anything. Seth choose bowling for them to play.

Seth won the first round and Bella asked for a rematch, winning in the second try. To break the tie Seth suggested for them to play Just Dance, which Bella refused, shaking her head strongly, but after some convincing from Seth and some encouraging from Jacob she accepted. Hoping that anyone besides the two wouldn't see it.

They started with Nine in the Afternoon by Panic! at the Disco, Bella's choice.

"This is stupid." Bella said after the first few dance moves, feeling ashamed of herself, but continued to dance even if she missed a few steps.

"Oh, c'mon Bella, this is fun." Seth insisted, his moves so graceful and on point that made Bella jealous.

Seth won in the end, since Bella was still a little bit stiff for having to dance in public. By the time they reached the sixth song, Mambo No. 5, Bella had already gotten somewhat over her shame for doing that in public. She was dancing a lot better too, having won two times over Seth.

On the next song Jacob requested to play against Bella and Seth was a little grateful for stepping out to take some air and grab a cup of water. He went to the kitchen while Jacob chose Jump to play.

"Oh, you're so dead, Jake. I love this song." Bella rejoiced before the song started.

"It's on, Bell." Jacob challenged.

It was a tough call, both doing their best to hit all the right steps, even Jacob managed to miss just a few even in his high state of mind, but in the end Bella won over him.

"I told you." she snickered at him and just as the song ended she head a round of applause coming from behind them.

While they were playing a group of people came to watch them, the song catching their interest. They all sang along but neither Bella or Jacob seemed to notice that, too entranced by the game to pay attention in anything else.

"Your dancing skills sucks, Jacob." snickered a tall guy, maybe a little shorter than Jacob himself, with black eyes and hair. His skin was the same as the most of them.

"Bella, that's Paul Lahote." Jacob introduced and Bella nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"'Sup?" Paul said. "It's cool if I give it a go against Black?" he asked her.

"Yeah, sure, go for it." she said "I'm feeling a little dehydrated already."

Bella dodged the sea of people that had accumulated in the living room to watch Jacob and Paul face each other in the dance-off. As Bella was arriving in the kitchen she heard the start of Barbie Girl starting to play and she fasted her pace to get back there, not wanting to miss that.

While she poured herself a new cup of water she contemplated giving into the party mood and drinking something with alcohol, but decided against, seeing that she was having fun without the need of anything to make it happen.

When she got back to the living room there was a few more people watching the two of them dancing, all of them, including Bella herself, cheered and laughed at what was happening in front of them. From what Bella could see, she was sure Paul was as drunk as Jacob was high, if his eating shit grin and the way he moved his body was anything to go by.

The song ended and Jacob won, making Paul curse and punch him in the arm. He was clearly mad for losing and Bella couldn't help but think he was too petty for taking something like a dance game seriously. But he was probably too drunk, so Bella didn't think too much of it.

The game continued, with Jacob going against a boy that Bella learned as Embry and after that it seemed like everyone wanted to take a try with the game, too. Bella laughed with the fact that a silly game like Just Dance mobilized a party full of teenagers and young adults. She wondered if it was the alcohol and weed in their system or something else.

"Now's my turn. And I'm going against Bella." Leah announced, startling Bella that didn't even noticed her.

Bella bounced until she reached the Quileute girl.

"Are you sure? I'm going to kick your ass." she joked.

"Not if I kick yours first." Leah said with a hint of challenge in her voice.

"It's your funeral, Clearwater." Bella shrugged, faking indifference.

Leah grabbed the control from a girl Bella didn't know the name and chose American Boy before placing herself in front of the TV. Bella did the same, standing next to her.

It started and Bella felt confident about winning. It was her ninth dance that night and so far she had won most of it. She kept her eyes glued to the dancer on tv, following every move and being awarded for every step she got perfectly. But she made the mistake of moving her eyes to glance at the girl next to her. It was a solo part for Leah and for some reason Bella couldn't take her eyes off of her, losing a few commands that in the end costed her victory.

"I told I'd kick your ass first." Leah bragged with a smirk in her face and Bella rolled her eyes "But as the merciful person I am, I'll let you have another chance."

"As much as I'd love to prove to you that I am better than you," she checked her phone. 10:43pm "We need to get going if you're still taking me home. I promised to be back before 11pm."

Leah checked her phone to confirm the hour. "Oh crap. Alright, let's go."

As Leah went to retrieve her jacket from the couch she stumbled a little and Bella had to steady her.

"Are you sure you're good to drive? You drank and I'm sure you probably smoked, too." Bella said watching the girl's state.

"Nah, I'm good." Leah said dismissing Bella's concerns "I'm used to drink and drive, believe me." Bella gave her a skeptical look "I'm good, I promise."

"I still prefer if Seth comes with us, then I don't need to worry about you driving back alone."

Leah smiled at the girl's concern "Okay."

They left the living room still crowded with people watching two girls playing Just Dance to look for Seth and Jacob. They found them sitting at the stairs talking to another guy that Bella remembered as Embry.

"I gotta take Bella's home and she insists that you come with us." Leah said to her brother with a hint of fake annoyance in her voice.

"It's just so she won't drive back home all by herself. It's late and she's drunk." Bella explained.

"Yeah, Bella's gotta a point." Seth agreed "C'mon Jake."

They got up and all of them said goodbye to Embry but didn't bothered to say goodbye to the host or anyone else. When they got to the car Seth insisted in Bella sitting in the passenger seat while he and Jacob settled for the back seats.

Bella decided not to play any song, afraid that it'd distract Leah and soon they were on the road going back to Forks.

"So, did you finish all the brownie, Bella? If you want, we can go home and pick some more." Jacob said after some time of absolutely silence.

"No, there's still a couple left, thanks." Bella replied.

"So why didn't you ate any today?" Jacob inquired.

"Or drink at the party? You're no into alcohol?" Seth asked, complementing Jacob.

"No, I drink, too. I just... wasn't feeling like it." Bella explained, trying to sound convincing but failing miserably.

Leah glanced at the girl next to her before saying "Bella's been in a car accident."

"What?!"

"When?"

"No, I wasn't in a car accident!" Bella argued "Thank you, Leah. Can't you keep your mouth shut for just a second?"

"I _was_ silent a moment ago." Leah said defensively.

Bella rolled her eyes "You know what I mean."

"What happened, Bella?" Seth interjected, his voice full of worries.

"Nothing." she muttered angrily.

"A car almost hit her." Leah told once she realized Bella wasn't going to explain "Charlie said she hit her head, but she keeps saying she got out without any scratches."

"I did got out without any scratches." Bella affirmed.

"Why didn't you wanna tell us?" Jacob asked.

"Because nothing really happened. If something had happened I'd have told you." she assured him "Actually, I wouldn't even be here."

"Woah, that's morbid." Seth grimaced.

"No, no. I just mean that Charlie wouldn't had let me come, that's all." she explained "Can we all change subjects, please? I went to the party exactly to forget what happened."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that, Bell."

"It's okay."

"And you, Lee? You disappeared with Emily at one time, did something finally happened?" Seth asked, trying to do what Bella asked and change the subject.

"A lady don't kiss and tell." Leah said mysteriously and Bella wondered what happened.

"Like you're a lady." Jacob snickered.

"You're always bragging about the girls you hook up, it's like you're some kind of fuckboy." Seth said before Leah could comment on what Jacob said "But the girl version."

"I am absolutely not!" Leah growled, her grip on the steering wheel tightening.

"Yes, you are, Lee." Jacob said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, shut up, Black, or I'll leave you on the side of the road."

"You're really an awful person." Bella blurted before she couldn't contain herself.

"I'll leave you on the side of the road, too." Leah threatened.

"Please do, I'm sure Charlie will have a blast chasing you down." Bella challenged with a smirk.

"He wouldn't."

"Oh, wanna bet?"

Leah sized the girl next to her "Maybe some other time."

After that, Jacob complained about his munchies, saying he was too hungry and he'd die if Leah didn't stop somewhere to eat. She reluctantly denied his wishes, saying that they needed to take Bella home first and maybe after they could go grab something.

Bella said her goodbyes and promised to give them a call for when she went to La Push with her school colleagues. They waited in the car until Bella was inside, before taking off to the nearest drive-thru Leah could find, if just to make Jacob stop whining.

"I'm home." Bella said once she stepped inside "I'm sorry I'm late."

"It's ten past Eleven, Bells, relax. I'm not gonna get mad for you missing your curfew in 10min." Charlie said, appearing from the living room "Had fun?"

"Yes, I did, actually. Leah's friends are really cool and everything." Bella said honestly.

All night she hadn't remembered what happened on Friday, too focused on winning in Just Dance.

"Good. I'm glad you're making friends here." Charlie gave what Bella believed was some sort of smile, his lips barely curling up.

"I'm tired, it's okay if I go to bed?"

"Not at all. Goodnight, Bells."

"'Night, dad." Bella said before going upstairs.

Once she was in her room she kicked her shoes off and changed her clothes for something comfier. She went to the bathroom before finally going back to her bedroom and finally climbing on her bed. She was so tired that it was enough to make her fall asleep as soon her head hit the pillow.

* * *

The next day Bella spent most of her day the same way she spent her Saturday. She continued the Virgin Suicides before choosing an excruciatingly great amount of films to watch.

She was good enough to do the cooking so the only times she left her room was to go to the bathroom and the kitchen to make lunch and dinner. Charlie had the day off that day too, so he'd go to Bella's room from time to time to check if she was good or if she needed anything.

Bella felt overwhelmed with all the attention she was getting from Charlie, not expecting him to be like that. But it was good, it reminded her of Renée and how she'd lose it every time Bella'd have just a small cut in her finger.

That night she faced some problems to sleep, the anxiety of the next day taking over. She wasn't ready to deal with everyone fuzzing all over her again nor she was ready to confront Rosalie for what happened. Especially not the Rosalie thing. It'd be the first time she'd speak with the girl and just the thought of it was enough to bring a stomachache. She was sure the girl hated her but still she wanted, no, _needed_ to know why the girl saved her. And more importantly: how.

Bella was certain of what she saw. She'd not let anyone tell her otherwise, not even Rosalie's brother. It could've been the weed, but she only ate one and that wasn't enough to make up things, just to fuzz reality a little. If she closed her eyes she could still feel the hard and cold touch of Rosalie pinning her to the ground.

She kept thinking and reliving everything that happened, only managing to sleep when it was close to 4am.

It was no surprise when Bella woke the next day feeling as tired as she looked, but somehow the tiresome wasn't from the lack of sleep but from all the anticipation for what was to come.

Charlie offered to drive her, afraid she wasn't ready to go back driving, but Bella declined since the "accident" happened while she was out of the car and not inside. Her old Chevelle was with a dent from where the van crashed, but besides that it looked like nothing happened. _Nothing close to what could've happened_ , Bella had to remind herself.

After promising she'd call her father if anything happened Bella hopped onto her car. The first thing she did was obviously plug her phone, assured that listen to something would block her mind from going crazy. Alessia Cara's version of How Far I'll Go from Moana's soundtrack started to play. Bella needed something she could sing along to fully take her mind of things and nothing would do it better than a musical.

Bella kept listening the whole soundtrack of Moana until she arrived at school, You're Welcome repeating 2 times and by the end she had come up with a strange but somewhat believable theory that Rosalie was a demi-god. Not only her but all her family, too, including her father and possibly his wife.

So far she had the facts that they were un-humanly strong, at least Rosalie, their body temperature totally different from a regular human and the key to it all: they were all strikingly beautiful, like some kind of 'I'm descendant of greek gods and goddesses' kind of beautiful. Maybe Forks had it's own Half Blood Camp and that's where the Cullens and the Hales and Ophelia actually went.

The minute Bella got out of her car she noticed all the looks she was receiving and it looked like every single person was looking at her. The instant reaction her body had was to paint a crimson red across her cheeks. She grabbed her bag, put on her earphones and fidget with her hair to hide her face.

The first person that talked with her was Eric since they had the first period together. He asked how she was and offered to be there if she needed. She smiled at his kindness and assured him that she'd definitely tell him if she ever needed anything. Of course it was all a lie, Bella hardly knew Eric to open up to him, but she couldn't tell him that.

On the second period Angela was the one to offer her help to Bella and unlike Eric, Bella felt an honest gratitude for the girl's offer. Angela was maybe the only person Bella actually liked from school besides Ophelia, but her relationship with Angela still felt much more solid than hers with the Sinclair.

By the third period Bella was losing it, Jessica having created an spectacle of what happened. She talked way too loudly for Bella's liking, attracting unwanted attention. Her concerns sounding more like an interrogatory and after her eighth question Bella kindly informed her that she didn't want to talk about it, that she was way more interested in paying attention to Mr. Varner. Jessica took the hint and shut her mouth throughout the class and the next.

All morning Bella was dreading lunch, the moment she'd finally see Rosalie. But that wouldn't be the time she'd confront her, no. Bella would wait until after their class together and then she'd be ready to follow the girl down the hallway and demand an explanation. That was the plan. While she was lying sleepless in her bed, she even imagined what she'd say.

But when she walked into the cafeteria what she found was her five siblings sitting together at the same table, and she was not with them.

Bella went and sat at the same table she had been sitting since she first came to Forks High, all the while waiting nervously for the moment she would arrive. But she never did, and as time passes she grew more and more tense.

While she walked to Biology class with Angela she decided not to ask Ophelia nothing and for her surprise Ophelia didn't mention a single thing, not even asking if Bella was alright or not. Bella thought it was odd and she felt a little sad for Ophelia not caring for what happened, but at least it was better than everyone fuzzing over her.

When it was finally English class, Bella walked with more confidence, sure that she'd finally find the blonde and by the end of it she'd finally get her answers. Bella held her breath at the door, but Rosalie Hale wasn't there, either. She exhaled defeated and went to her seat.

Mike took the opportunity of the vacant seat to go and change places. He smiled at Bella and started to talk with her about random things, all his inquisitions about her well being already answered back at lunch, but Bella simply muted whatever he was talking, to lost in her own mind to pay attention.

She kept thinking that Rosalie was injured from what happened last Friday, and that was the reason why she was absent. Bella told herself that repeatedly. But she couldn't get rid of the nagging suspicion that she was the reason Rosalie wasn't there. It was ridiculous, and egotistical, to think that Bella could affect anyone that strongly. _It was impossible_. And yet she couldn't stop worrying that it was true.

The next day Rosalie still didn't come back to school. Nor did she came for the rest of the week.

Everyday, Bella watched anxiously until the rest of the Cullens entered the cafeteria without her. On Tuesday she decided to ask Ophelia what happened to her sister and all she said was that Rosalie wasn't feeling well to attend school, not even bothering to explain what she had. Bella didn't believe it for a second, but she said nothing.

The week that followed Bella's accident was uneasy and tense. To her dismay, she found herself the center of attention for the rest of the time being. Tyler Crowley was impossible, following her around, obsessed with making amends to her somehow. Bella tried to convince him what she wanted more than anything else was for him to forget all about it, especially since nothing had actually happened to her, but he remained insistent. He followed her between classes and sat at their now-crowded lunch table. Mike and Eric were even less friendly toward him than they were to each other, which made Bella worry that she'd gained another unwelcome fan.

But that wasn't enough to make Bella suppress the worry that she was responsible for Rosalie's continued absence, ridiculous as it seemed. She couldn't pay attention to classes, she couldn't keep a conversation because all she could do was think about the girl that was certainly avoiding her.

She also found that no one noticed that she was saved by Rosalie. The question of how she got out without serious damage was one she was tired of listening. Every time she'd say that it was lucky and everyone believed her. She wondered why no one else had seen the Hale girl impossibly saving her life.

And with chagrin, Bella realized the probable cause: no one else was as aware of the Cullens as Bella always was. No one else watched them the way she did. _How pitiful._


End file.
